Lindenwood’s Sierra Burt stood outside the Syracuse crease and slapped her stick on the ice. Instead of shadowing Burt, Orange defender Mae Batherson skated behind the net and left the forward alone.

Burt took a pass from her teammate and quickly flicked the puck past Ady Cohen’s outstretched glove to cut Syracuse’s lead to one. Minutes later, it evaporated completely.

But with three and a half minutes left in the third period, the puck slid to Batherson at the point with an opportunity to redeem her previous mistake. The freshman defender stepped into a shot — a wrister that floated through the Lions’ defensive zone toward the net. With Emma Polaski planted at the top of the crease, Lindenwood’s goaltender stood frozen as the shot flew by.

“As a freshman,” SU forward Abby Moloughney said, “you tend to get down on yourself in those moments. So it’s really good for (Batherson) to be able to get her confidence back.”

Batherson’s goal gave the Orange a 3-2 lead that persisted to the final buzzer. The win over Lindenwood (5-20-3, 3-12-0 College Hockey America), extended Syracuse’s (11-16-2, 9-4-2) point streak to five games and pulled it within one point of a first-round bye in the CHA tournament. Syracuse had been hurt by late goals this season: It let up two in the final minutes of a 3-1 loss to St. Lawrence on Jan. 7. It fell in the final seconds of overtime to Mercyhurst just a few days later. But Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion, Batherson’s power-play goal gave Syracuse the late lift it needed.

“It was important we didn’t get down because that usually happens,” Polaski said. “When they scored we let them get momentum. So we just made sure that we stayed in it, kept moving and kept pressing towards them instead of sitting back.”

In the first period, Syracuse dominated possession and outshot Lindenwood 14-2, but failed to build a lead. Anna Leschyshyn tipped the puck by a Lions skater in the neutral zone and toe dragged the only remaining defender. The freshman’s quick-release beat Lindenwood’s goalie but not the crossbar, as it rang up and out of play. 

It was the fourth consecutive game the Orange have outshot their opponent by more than 20. Syracuse has outshot opponents 210-91 in that stretch but scored more than three goals only once.

“The goalies we have been playing against are really good at controlling rebounds,” Moloughney said. “I think, you know, one of the most important parts of our game is to get someone in front of the net and sometimes we don’t tend to have someone there.”

Early in the second period, Lauren Bellefontaine skated the puck out of the Lindenwood corner and around the circle. The sophomore forward turned and fired the puck toward the net where it deflected off Polaski’s stick and fell to Madison Beishuizen right next to the crease. As Beishuizen swung her stick,  the crowd stood and one Syracuse fan already was yelling in celebration. The puck floated over the Lindenwood goalie’s blocker, finally turning a Syracuse shot into a goal.

Minutes later, Bellefontaine tipped home a goal of her own, but in the final frame, Lindenwood mounted its comeback. Burt’s goal alone in front was matched minutes later by Cierra Paisley, who took a quick pass from Burt at the side of the goal to tie the game at two.

The Orange took three penalties and lost momentum in the final frame, but a Lindenwood slashing penalty with six and a half minutes left gave Syracuse a chance to regroup. The first power-play unit failed to move the puck. Then, head coach Paul Flanagan made a change, he said. The new unit was quarterbacked by Batherson, who seconds into her shift took a pass at the point and fired a wrist shot at the net.

“You definitely always want to redeem your mistakes during the game,” Batherson said. “I had a couple chances earlier that I didn’t bury, so with a big opportunity at the end I just wanted to capitalize on it.”

Published on February 15, 2020 at 12:05 am

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