Syracuse women’s ice hockey shut out by Lindenwood

A scene from the end of the second period of Syracuse’s Saturday afternoon game against Lindenwood: the puck bounces off the post and settles, for a second, mere inches from the goal line and yawning Lindenwood goal. Syracuse forward Jackson Kinsler swings around the back of the net and attempts to jam it in. Her stick strikes the Lions’ defender’s, the goalie slides over, and the Orange fail to capitalize on another scoring chance.

Syracuse (13-14-3, 9-9-2 in AHA play) dropped the second game of its weekend double-header against Lindenwood (9-17-2, 7-10-1) 4-0 Saturday afternoon, pushing the Orange back below .500.

The Lions earned the first couple clean looks on goal and the first extended zone time of the first period. Lindenwood’s skaters were quick to pucks–pouncing whenever they came loose and consistently stepping up on Syracuse’s defenders and wings. 

Lindenwood stretched the neutral zone well too, connecting on several long passes and threatening to split the Syracuse defense. The Lions’ top two lines worked well together low, slicing Orange defender’s marks and opening up seam looks.

All that said, it was Syracuse who generated more shots in the first.

After the game Orange head coach Britni Smith said the team came away happy with their start offensively, and the first period as a whole.

Indeed, Syracuse had maybe the best look of the opening period (center Nea Tervonen skating into a hard slot shot off an Orange rush) until a Lindenwood two-on-one at the very end of the period topped it as well as a stand out performance killing a late tripping penalty on defender Rachel Walsh in which the Lindenwood powerplay barely possessed the puck. And they outshot the Lions, 13-10.

The Orange tallied eight more in the second and a whopping 16 in the third and final frame of play.

In total, Syracuse put 37 pucks on goal. Not one found the back of the net.

It’s been a season-long theme. Coming into the game, the Orange’s 888 shots ranked third in the AHA. Their six-percent shooting percentage came in at last.

Syracuse’s top skaters flashed skill throughout the game. The puck stuck to defender Maya D’Arcy’s stick as she cut between Lindenwood skaters and fired a shot on net–she finished with a team-leading seven; defender Jessica Cheung got bite pump-faking a shot then slid a pass high-to-low across the zone for a one time chance; Kinsler created countless looks, including a two-on-one rush chance, turning defenders backwards to forwards with her speed and twice toe-dragging past Lions players. But no bury.

Center Makenna Williment sprung her own breakaway but her shot sailed wide. So, too, did Kinsler’s after intercepting a pass in the high slot on the penalty kill. Leading scorer Emma Gnade put a puck over the net after a Gnade-to-Heidi Knoll-to Gande passing sequence entering the offensive zone. Syracuse couldn’t finish off a rebound in a net-front scrum while Lindenwood goalie Lexington Secreto was out of the crease, spun around, and on her stomach. That bouncing puck at the end of the second.

Twelve seconds into the third Lions center Molly Henderson got in the way of D’Arcy’s attempt to play the puck off the boards while regrouping in the defensive zone, collected the puck and came off the wall in-alone on Orange goalie Ava Drabyk, glided over top the crease, and, shifting the puck forehand to backhand to forehand, slid it five-hole. 1-0 Lindenwood. 

A little more than three minutes later forward Paige Cline, scorer of the Lions’ lone goal in the Orange’s 2-1 win Friday night, scored off a Henderson faceoff win. 2-0 Lindenwood.

Then Syracuse took the first of three third period penalties. Knoll was called for tripping with 11:54 on the clock. Two seconds after she exited the box Lindenwood defender Josey Dunne-Weeks scored a well-placed, twine-tickling high shot as the trailer on a rush the Lions had generated while on the man advantage. 3-0 Lindenwood.

Syracuse took another ill-timed penalty with 2:35 left on the clock, down three. 19 seconds into the Orange’s kill Drabyk stopped a hard point shot and Henderson dove to bury the rebound in-front. 4-0 Lindenwood.

Syracuse’s third penalty of the period was a game misconduct issued to forward Mik Todd for head contact. The Lindenwood bench waved goodbye as she left the ice.

“As soon as they scored one, it got chippy,” Knoll said postgame. “We fed into their game. They’re a very chippy and talkative team and it got in our heads.” 

Both she and Smith said they were focused on what lies ahead for Syracuse, though. 

“This time of year you’ve got to have a short memory and move on to next weekend,” Smith said. 

Next weekend brings a break for the Orange, with no games on the schedule. Syracuse is set to play again in February, when RIT, which sits one spot ahead of Syracuse in the AHA standings, travels to Tennity.