Syracuse Ice Hockey Loses in Dramatic Fashion against No. 3 Clarkson

By Noah Cierzan

CitrusTV Women’s Ice Hockey Beat Reporter

Syracuse Women’s Ice Hockey opened its 2019-20 season with tough task when No. 3 Clarkson visited Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday. The Orange expected a physical game, which they got to an extreme with 13 total penalties in the contest.

“If you get caught out there, it can be hard to bounce back when you’re going every other,” said Senior captain Lindsay Eastwood.

Despite dominating most of the game, an exhausted Syracuse (0-1, 0-0 College Hockey America) squad let up two goals in the final period of play to hand Clarkson (1-0, 0-0 East Coast) the 4-3 victory.

Syracuse came out of the game aggressive, scoring two goals in the first period, including a SportCenter Top-10-worthy goal by Kelli Rowswell.

“Anytime you can score a goal like that, it boosts the team’s confidence,” said Rowswell.

SU doubled Clarkson’s shots through the first two periods 22-11, but the Orange were much more lethargic in the third period, getting outshot 13 to ten.

“The younger kids, our four freshmen, played a lot, so now they know what this is going to be like,” said head coach Paul Flanagan.

This Syracuse team features a true freshman offensive line, and Flanagan knows it will take them more than one game to adjust to the fast-paced nature of college hockey.

“I’m trying to emphasize that we have to do things quicker,” said Flanagan.

Clarkson was sloppy in its first game of its season, leading to seven power plays for the Orange. However, SU was unable to convert on any of those opportunities and even allowed the Golden Knights to score a short-handed goal after a bad turnover.

Despite the score reflecting a loss, Flanagan was able to find some positives.

“We had good movement through the neutral zone, I liked our forecheck at times,” said Flanagan. “I thought when we got after it, we forced them into a lot of mistakes.”

And, Eastwood stressed the importance of the quick turnaround and getting ready for their next game.

“Come back ready to go tomorrow, get a good cool-down, good sleep and good meal in us to be ready to go because we were right there with them and we can give them a good shot tomorrow,” Eastwood said.

Syracuse gets a chance at redemption tomorrow at 3 p.m., when they travel to Potsdam to play Clarkson.

ncierzan@syr.edu | @ncierzan