Jenesica Drinkwater had one slip-up and it cost her and her Syracuse team. 

The SU goaltender blocked away a shot from Ohio State’s Ally Tarr that went off her facemask. Tarr kept skating toward the crease, and got to the puck sitting right in front of Drinkwater before she could cover it up.

Tarr sent the puck into the back of the net for the eventual game-winning goal with 10:22 to go in the third period. As the siren sounded off to signal a goal, Drinkwater looked toward the ceiling in disbelief.

‘It hit my helmet and I lost kind of control of it,’ Drinkwater said. ‘And as I went to go grab it the girl was right there to get her own rebound, so I just had to have more control and cover that right away instead of letting that rebound out for her to put it in.’

Drinkwater’s gaffe on Tarr’s shot — one she’d usually secure — cost Syracuse (5-9) in its 4-3 loss to Ohio State (7-4-1, 5-4-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) inside Tennity Ice Pavilion Saturday night in front of 302 fans. The Orange also dropped it matchup with the Buckeyes 6-3 on Friday. Drinkwater, along with the rest of her defense performed efficiently for nearly the entire game on Saturday. But minor letdowns led to major goals for the Buckeyes whose offense struck when the opportunities arose.

Throughout the game, Drinkwater played admirably, stopping numerous shots with acrobatic saves. Whether it was a kick-save, or snarling glove snag, the sophomore was impressive.

Drinkwater finished with 35 saves, but it’s the one that got away from her at a critical juncture in the game with the Orange that she wish she could have done over again.

With SU already trailing by one, Tarr’s goal gave OSU a comfortable cushion in the final period.

‘It’s definitely frustrating in a game, it was still pretty close and then we could have had that tying goal right there at the end,’ Drinkwater said. ‘So yeah with less than ten minutes to go in the game and I let in a goal like that. I feel like it’s not the greatest goal to let in.’

But Drinkwater’s one blunder was just a microcosm of the Syracuse defense’s performance. The defense played tough against an attacking Ohio State offense led by forwards Natalie Spooner and Laura McIntosh, but broke down occasionally to allow goals.

With 5:19 left in the first period, Spooner and McIntosh displayed the two-headed tandem they are. After a Buckeyes player intercepted an Orange pass, Ohio State had an easy two-on-one. Spooner fed the puck to McIntosh who shot it right past Drinkwater’s right leg pad, tying the game 1-1.

Then in the second period, OSU’s Sara Schmitt sent a long pass up to teammates Hokey Langan, who was on a breakaway. Langan kept her poise and buried the goal right past Drinkwater, who couldn’t do much to stop it.

‘They capitalized. Very opportunistic and we just didn’t,’ SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. ‘And that was the difference in the ball game because otherwise it was pretty even.’

And for part of the game, that’s exactly what the scoreboard indicated.

SU took an early 1-0 lead in the first period after an Allie Lacombe goal. Later, Julie Knerr spun around in front of the net to bang home a goal that tied the game up at 2-2.

The final offensive strike came from Margot Scharfe with 1:53 remaining in the contest when she was able to knock home a loose puck, to inch Syracuse closer to 4-3.

But that fourth goal that came for Ohio State nine minutes earlier was the key. It’s a blemish Drinkwater and the SU defense could have prevented, and that makes the loss tough for SU to take.

For most of the game, the Orange did prevent Ohio State from hitting the back of the net, but as freshman defender Jordyn Burns said, SU needs to keep its defense tight for all of the game, not most of it.

‘We need to work on consistency a little bit,’ Burns said. ‘Playing the full 60 minutes.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

Published on November 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm