Maddi Welch Shines as Syracuse Earns 1-1 Tie Against Princeton

By Eric Moon

CitrusTV Women’s Ice Hockey Reporter

Syracuse, NY – There were less than seven minutes remaining in regulation when Princeton’s Karlie Lund emerged from the penalty box. Immediately she received a pass from a teammate and was all alone on a breakaway.

As Lund approached the net, she rifled the puck top corner blocker side on Senior Maddi Welch. Welch knocked the puck out of the air to keep the game knotted at 1-1.  

That save and 20 others by Welch helped Syracuse (4-6-1, 4-2-0 College Hockey America) earn a 1-1 tie against Princeton (3-2-2, 3-0-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) Saturday afternoon at the Tennity Ice Pavilion. Welch made 21 saves in total on the 22 shots she faced boosting her numbers to 57 saves on 60 shots in her last three matches.

“She’s playing with some consistency and I think she’s starting to gain confidence and feel a lot better about herself,” Flanagan said. “That just comes with playing. How I see the confidence is you make a save, you cover it when you need to, you move it when it presents itself.”

The results have shown for the whole team. Welch has made four consecutive starts and the Orange are 2-1-1 in those games. The only blemish was a 4-3 loss in overtime to thenNo. 2 Clarkson.

During that stretch, Welch recorded her first shutout of the season in a 1-0 win at Penn State last Saturday and has only allowed one goal in her last 102:11 played. Despite the hot stretch, Welch is still looking to improve.

“One thing I think I need to work on is trying to see the puck better,” Welch said. “That’s kind of how that first goal went in. I just lost track of it.”

Princeton’s goal was scored on a deflection by Sarah Verbeek less than five minutes into the game.

On the offensive side for Syracuse, Abby Moloughney scored the lone Orange goal in front of her family to tie the game 1-1 with eight minutes to play in the first period.

SU outshot the Tigers 31-22 and nearly capitalized on multiple high quality scoring chances, especially late in the game, but Syracuse couldn’t finish. Syracuse and Princeton wrap up their weekend series Sunday at 2 p.m. Both the Orange and the Tigers are looking for their first non-conference win of the season and SU is still searching for its first win at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

ewmoon@syr.edu I @ericmoon22