Syracuse Runs Out of Gas Down the Stretch, Falls to No. 3 Cornell 4-1
By Noah Cierzan
CitrusTV Women’s Ice Hockey Beat Reporter
After a great weekend in Happy Valley, the Orange had arguably its toughest task of the season ahead. Syracuse had to take on in-state powerhouse Cornell as its third game in four days.
The Orange skated with the Big Red through the majority of two periods, but a big third period gave No. 3 Cornell (8-0-1, 5-0-1 Eastern College Athletic) a 4-1 victory over Syracuse (3-12-1, 2-1-1 College Hockey America). SU now falls to 1-12 in the all-time series against Cornell.
Finley Frechette got the scoring started off a one-time pass from Jaime Bourbonnais. Senior Victoria Klimek responded just a minute later to tie the game up 1-1, which remained the score for much of the game.
Although Syracuse was sticking with Cornell, the Orange struggled to get anything going on offense. The penalty box also hurt them Tuesday night, which has been a recurring problem from SU.
SU spent over seven minutes in the penalty box through two periods, compared to Colgate’s two minutes and forty seconds.
“There’s still some areas that we have to work on like staying out of the penalty box, but our kids did a real great job on the penalty kill,” said head coach Paul Flanagan after the game.
Syracuse’s defense did a great job of killing the penalties off, but it prevented the Orange from being aggressive on offense. Specifically, Syracuse couldn’t be aggressive on the forecheck.
Cornell broke the stalemate with under two minutes remaining in the period as Kristin O’Neill beat Ady Cohen, hitting the top right corner to give the Big Red a lead that they wouldn’t relinquished.
SU’s tired legs showed in the third period as Jaime Bourbonnais scored five minutes into the period and Paige Lewis tacked on an empty net goal for Cornell’s third and fourth goals of the game.
Cohen played well between the pipes for Syracuse, despite the Big Red putting up four goals. She faced 29 shots on goal and stood tall on multiple one-on-one opportunities that came from SU’s defensive breakdowns.
Despite the disappointing result, Flanagan put a positive spin on his team’s performance.
“I’d give them a solid B for their performance tonight. We gave up three goals, not counting the empty netter, but they had good effort and enthusiasm,” said Flanagan.
Syracuse gets the rest of the week off before they travel to Missouri for an important two game series against CHA opponent Lindenwood next week. SU will then have an entire month off to prepare for the home stretch of the season.
ncierzan@syr.edu l @ncierzan
