To support student journalism and the content you love, become a member of The Daily Orange today.

After Lindsay Maloney received a high-stick penalty with 10:21 remaining in the third period, the Orange earned their third power play of the night. Syracuse marched down the ice and looked as if they were going to have an opportunity to at least get a shot on goal, but RIT’s backline stopped them, a common theme of the night.

After stopping Syracuse, the Tigers found Megan McCormick around center ice with no defenders in sight. McCormick gathered the puck and skated down the center of the ice with just goalkeeper Arielle DeSmet to beat. As McCormick inched closer and closer, DeSmet came out of the goal and the crease. DeSmet blocked McCormick’s shot and the puck ricocheted to the right preventing an ensuing shot on goal and any hope the Tigers had of scoring a shorthanded goal.

After winning the College Hockey America championship last season, Syracuse (3-7-, 1-0 College Hockey America) won its first conference game this season against RIT (2-8-0, 0-1 CHA), defeating them 1-0. Throughout the game, both teams had plenty of opportunities offensively, but each team’s backline and goalie kept this a low scoring matchup.

Throughout most of their first nine games, the Orange struggled to get anything going in the first period. However, within the first 4:30 of the match, Syracuse’s Mik Todd, Sarah Marchand, Hannah Johnson and Marielle McHale all attempted shots but couldn’t get it in the net. The Orange’s offense was knocking on the door, and Lauren Bellefontaine got them going. 

After SU battled for possession on the Tigers’ side of the ice, Bellefontaine won a faceoff and the puck found Terryn Mozes’ stick. Just outside the crease, Mozes had space and fired a shot that deflected off the right goalpost, but right back to Bellefontaine. Bellefontaine cleaned up Mozes’ miss to give the Orange an early 1-0 lead. 

“Kudos to them for coming out with a strong start,” head coach Britni Smith said. “A theme of ours has been pretty inconsistent with our starts. That was something (the coaching staff) challenged them with and I thought they definitely responded.”

Throughout the game, the Orange took 39 total shots but only Bellefontaine’s early shot found the back of the net. With under a minute left in the period, SU had one of their best opportunities to extend their lead. After Heidi Knol cleared the puck up the ice, Rhea Hicks fought for possession, and after the puck broke free, Knol regained possession. Knol skated down the right side of the rink with Coe to beat. Coe made the save, but the puck went right to Hannah Johnson. Coe made an impressive save to keep the score 1-0. 

Although Syracuse had numerous chances taking 27 shots, Coe patrolled the crease well with 26 saves. Additionally, the Tigers’ backline did a good job of supporting their goalie with five blocks. 

DeSmet added 25 saves to go along with a shutout while Syracuse’s backline blocked 11 shots. On her own, Bellefontaine (five) had as many blocks as the entirety of the Tigers’ team.

“I haven’t had a shutout in a while, so (it’s) always nice to add one of those to the list, but my team bailed me out a lot,” DeSmet said. “We had a ton of blocked shots, too, so I can only thank them enough for that as well.” 

DeSmet and the Orange’s backline allowed zero goals despite the Tigers’ four power-play opportunities. Additionally, the Orange successfully closed out tonight’s game, which is an area where the team struggled to begin the season. 

In the final two minutes of the game, SU kept the puck on RIT’s side of the ice. The Orange never gave the Tigers a chance to even pull Coe from the net because the puck never left RIT’s side of the ice, and the Orange held on for their first home and conference wins of the season. 

“We haven’t played with the lead for very much of the season,” Smith said. “So for them to be able to have that opportunity to play with the lead from early on, gave them another opportunity to add that to their toolbox. Learning how to play up and down and in different situations is important.”

Published on October 27, 2022 at 10:11 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon