No. 5 Clarkson Scores Four Unanswered to Stave Off Syracuse 4-1

By Andrew Della Piana | @dellie_5

The first goal in hockey is definitely an important one. It usually sets the tone and carries the momentum throughout the contest. However, that wasn’t the case tonight after Syracuse potted the opening tally against No. 5 Clarkson, but then allowed 4 unanswered goals in a 4-1 defeat. After the loss, head coach Britni Smith explained what caused the tides to turn.

“Clarkson is a good team. I am very proud of the team and how we battled. That is something we talked about, having a complete 60. There are areas of our game that were maybe not so complete, but our battle, our compete and our grit were there all 60. This time of the year is all about finding your game. I think there were areas of our game this weekend that we didn’t see that we saw tonight so we look to build on that on Saturday.” 

“We’ve had a tough second period all year that’s kind of been our struggle. We’re in the middle of trying to figure out what’s going on with that and how to fix that. Clarkson definitely came up better in the second period after the first and we knew that was going to happen so we just needed to figure out a way to weather that storm.”

The second period was the ultimate decider as the Golden Knights notched 3 goals and outshot the Orange 14-1. SU has now lost 23 of its 25 meetings with Clarkson all-time. Both teams regroup with stuffing and turkey on Thursday before facing off again on Saturday in Potsdam. 

aedellap@syr.edu | @dellie_5