A minute and a half into the second period, Savannah Rennie took the puck from behind the RIT net with teammate Anonda Hoppner close behind. Rennie wrapped the puck into the left pad of Tiger goalie Terra Lanteigne, and as the puck bounced off Hoppner found the puck at the top of the crease and buried it, going between the legs of Lanteigne. 

Thirteen minutes later, Brynn Koocher, Amanda Backebo and Kristen Siermachesky were all crashing the net on an Orange odd-man rush. Koocher put the shot on goal, while Backebo and Siermachesky crashed the net. With three bodies in front of the RIT crease, the puck pinballed between different legs and sticks before Koocher found it again and roofed it, giving Syracuse  (10-16-1, 8-4-1 College Hockey America) its second goal, all it needed to topple to RIT (9-16-2, 2-11), 3-1, on Friday evening. 

Both of those goals were opportunistic ones that the Orange needed to capitalize on. An ugly goal counts just as much as a “pretty” one, head coach Paul Flanagan said.

“We have to be that team that’s just getting an ugly one,” Flanagan said after a practice this past Tuesday. “If you’re in front you screen the goalie and it hits you in the elbow and goes in or you get your stick on it or whatever, you bury that rebound.”

While Syracuse’s offense was peppering shots on net, its defense shut down RIT’s offense in front of Ady Cohen. At the end of the first period, Syracuse had 23 shots on net. RIT would end the game with 24.

Syracuse defenders also stepped in the path of 10 Tiger blasts, preventing them from ever getting to Cohen, who was on track for her third shutout of the season, until a slap-shot through traffic off the stick of RIT defender Taylor Baker found twine with 90 seconds left in the game. 

“Yeah, it was definitely one of those weird ones where you know,” Cohen said. “They had the man up so a lot of traffic in front of the net and they just kept hacking at it and you lose sight of the puck.”

Early in the third Jessica DiGirolamo wired the puck from her own defensive zone to Rennie, making a fast break towards the RIT net. Taking the tape-to-tape pass, Rennie skated the puck to the top of the circle, turned her body and snipped the puck over the right shoulder of Lanteigne. In a game highlighted by the Orange’s dependence on ugly goals, Rennie may have scored the seasons prettiest. 

The fast pace of Syracuse’s game also led to a highly physical contest. Players had to shove or bump opposition out of the way if they wanted to get to a rebound, gain possession or have a clear line of sight for a tip. The excess physical play turned into power play opportunities for both sides. 

With a minute left in the second, Logan Hicks was battling for possession behind the Orange goal when she lowered the shoulders and bodied an RIT skater into the boards at the corner. The referee’s arm quickly shot up, and Hicks was penalized for body checking. Seven minutes into the third period, Madison Beishuizen skated the puck up the left boards of the Syracuse zone, trying to clear out her team. Tiger defender Justine Larkin skated up to Beishuizen’s side and pushed her into the boards, causing Beishuizen to tumble to the ice awkwardly. The refs blew the play dead, and reviewed the play, seeing if it warranted a game misconduct. Although Larkin stayed in the game, the play resulted in a five-minute major penalty. 

Hoppner said after the game that RIT is an especially physical, and gritty team, so Syracuse understood the importance of out-hustling them and being aggressive on loose pucks. 

“I think today coming in our focus was honestly just outwork them on every part of the ice, said Hoppner. “We used our strength and our speed and I think that that’s why we’re so successful today.”

Published on February 8, 2020 at 12:33 am

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