For the second-straight day, Syracuse took a multi-goal lead into the third period. Unlike Friday’s win, the Orange (8-18-2, 8-5-1 College Hockey America) didn’t let Mercyhurst (12-12-3, 8-5-0) back into the game, capping a dominating performance, 4-0. Four SU skaters finished the game plus-2, and defender Allie Munroe led all skaters with three points (one goal, two assists).

Syracuse scored three goals in the first 40 minutes, capitalizing on player-up opportunities. With eight seconds left on Syracuse’s second power play of the game, Victoria Klimek scored her second goal of the season from Kelli Rowswell and Savannah Rennie.

No more goals were scored in the first period, but Munroe made it 2-0 just over nine minutes into the second. This time, it came shorthanded while SU killed off a Rennie roughing minor. A few minutes later, Emma Nuutinen went to the box for hooking. Ten seconds after that, Vilma Tanskanen got a five-minute major and a ten-minute misconduct for checking from behind.

As the 5-on-3 advantage wound down to its last four seconds, Brooke Avery extended the SU lead. Two defenders, Munroe and Shelby Calof, picked up assists for Avery’s ninth goal of the season, which puts her one off the team lead held by Emma Polaski.

The Orange didn’t take advantage of the rest of the major penalty but held a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. On Friday, in the first of the back-to-back against Mercyhurst, Syracuse took a two-goal lead into the third. The Lakers tied it up with two-straight goals, and it took an Avery goal with under a minute to go for SU to eke out the win.

SU’s inability to string together a full 60 minutes has cost the Orange multiple games in the past. Against RIT on Nov. 16, SU allowed four unanswered goals after leading 4-2. Colgate scored five with no reply on Jan. 29 after Syracuse led 2-0. After the latter loss, Avery said the team reacts negatively to goals against, beating themselves up and letting teams gain momentum to come back.

On Saturday, the Orange overcame the trend, putting together a dominating performance against the CHA’s No. 2 team. Klimek added to the lead halfway into the third period with her second goal of the afternoon. Ady Cohen held firm in goal. She earned her first shutout of the season and SU’s second as a team. For the first time since Nov. 4, the Orange won a non-exhibition game by more than two goals.

The gap to second place in the conference narrowed to one point with the Syracuse win with six games left before the CHA tournament. The Orange have at least one win against four of their five CHA foes, including an overtime victory versus Robert Morris, which is currently pacing the conference.

They can make it 5 for 5 on Feb. 15 at RIT to close out a three-game road trip undefeated. SU is unbeaten in its last four conference games (3-0-1), and RIT is fourth in CHA and lost four-straight coming into Saturday.

Published on February 9, 2019 at 3:44 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder