WICE falls to No. 5 Colgate

By Luke McGrath SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse Woman’s Ice Hockey remains winless through five games after another loss to #5 Colgate on Friday night. SU has scored just five goals this season.

On Friday, Syracuse got off to a hot start, scoring two first period goals. Stephanie Grossi got the scoring started for the Orange when she buried a shot just 2:23 into the first period. The goal was assisted by Dakota Derrer and Alysha Burriss.

About two minutes later, Kellie Rowswell netted her first career goal for the Orange giving Syracuse a 2-0 lead.

The lines were a little different than what has been seen in the past for the Orange. Jessica Sibley and Stephanie Grossi switched places in an attempt to get the offense going.

“Something had to change,” junior forward Stephanie Grossi said. “Mixing people up and seeing if there is any natural chemistry… just trying out new things and hopefully get us going offensively.”

The Orange continued to get quality scoring opportunities, but was unable to capitalize for the rest of the game. Colgate, on the other hand, took advantage of Syracuse’s mistakes.

With just under five minutes to play in the first period, Colgate broke through. Lauren Wildfang scored, assisted by Jessie Eldridge and Shae Labbe, cut the deficit to one.

In the second period, Colgate scored a short-handed goal. A line change by Syracuse’s Jessica Sibley gave Colgate’s Bailey Larson a clear shot to the net, and she buried it to the top right of the net over the glove of Abbey Miller.

“It was a mistake on Sib’s and she just didn’t read it right” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “She came to the bench when she should have been taking Martyniuk’s place as a defensemen and it would have been at least a one on one. That was just a little mental mistake.”

Colgate scored the game winning goal with under five minutes to play in the third when Jessie Eldridge ripped a point blank shot off the post and in.

“We stood there and watched them score the game winning goal,” Flanagan said. “We just stood there.”

Coach Flanagan was disappointed with how his team responded after Colgate took the lead.

“I didn’t see a lot of fight from our team to be honest with you, and I’ll give credit to Colgate for the way they played defense after they got the lead,” he said.

Syracuse does not have long to regroup from the loss. They play Colgate again Saturday on the road with puck drop set for 3:00 p.m.