Syracuse ice hockey rolls on with a 2-1 victory over Robert Morris

By: Carter Masterson | @cwmasterson16

Moon Township, Pa. | Syracuse ice hockey (5-2, 3-2 AHA) came into Friday Night’s game riding a wave of momentum from a hot start. Their next task, Robert Morris (3-4, 0-3 AHA) on the road. After receiving votes in the most recent USCHO poll, SU wanted to further announce themselves as a real contender. And on Friday, the ‘Cuse added another win to its resume tonight with a 2-1 victory over the Colonials of RMU. In the first period Syracuse struggled with a familiar issue; the penalty box. It started with a powerplay chance for SU that went without anything of note. And as one team left the box the other went in with the first of two first period penalties for the Orange. But after that the next whistle that sent someone to the box was in favor of the ‘Cuse, and it scored its fifth powerplay goal on the season with the chance. Stella Costabile netted her second goal of the season off assists from Jackson Kinsler, and Emma Gnade. After a tight rest of the first period, Robert Morris found one of its own after establishing some zone time to tie it up at one. There was a lot of neutral zone play, and good scoring chances were hard to come by in the first twenty. The beginning of the middle frame looked to be more of the same early on with Robert Morris staying in stride with Syracuse. Another SU penalty looked like a chance for RMU to take control of this game, but instead it turned out to be the opposite. The ‘Cuse killed the penalty pretty easily and then gave itselves the lead once again off Rylee McLeod’s third goal on the campaign. After that it was all Orange the rest of the second and they finished with a 15-6 lead in shots over the entire period.

When the final frame started the ‘Cuse picked up where it left off. Syracuse controlled the game early with chance after chance and stout play at the blue line. But once again it was penalties that shook things up for the Orange. Robert Morris executed on SU’s fourth penalty of the game by peppering goaltender Ava Drabyk with four shots on goal and plenty more chances that went wide. But the Orange held firm despite a push from the Colonials down the stretch in the third, and it resulted in a one goal victory for the ‘Cuse. Both teams will hit the hay and get back on the horse for a rematch at three o’clock on Saturday. I’ll have live game updates on X @cwmasterson16 when the puck drops.