Syracuse leaps to third in AHA after game winning goal over RIT

Syracuse women’s ice hockey defeated the RIT Tigers 3-2 tonight in the Tennity Ice Pavilion.

Sophomore Jessica Cheung scored her first goal of the season vs. RIT in the final 88 seconds to give the Orange a win over the Tigers. The sophomore defender hadn’t scored in nearly a full calendar year.

“I’m glad I was able to get that,” Cheung said. “I think it’s really going to boost my confidence.”

The win propelled Syracuse from fifth to third in the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference, passing RIT and Lindenwood with just three games left in the regular season. The top four seeds get home ice advantage in the AHA playoffs.

“We definitely want to be hosting that third place game,” Head coach Heather Farrell said. “We have to take care of business. We can’t expect anyone else to help us at this point.”

Both teams committed two penalties in the first period, but neither were able to take advantage of the player-up opportunities. Three seconds after the Orange’s second penalty kill, Nea Tervonen took advantage of a loose puck in the neutral zone, speeding into the offensive zone and hitting Jackson Kinsler for the first goal of the game.

The Tigers responded less than four minutes later off a power play goal from Jaidan Fahrny, leaving the first period tied 1-1.

It was a cleaner but quieter second period for both squads. Over 15 minutes passed before Emma Gnade and Peyton Armstrong broke away to set up a two-on-one. Gnade pushed the right wing, hit Armstrong in the left circle, and the sophomore went backdoor on goaltender Brenna McNamara to give the lead back to Syracuse.

“Armie is just so quick with her hands,” Farrell said. “She was able to roof that puck pretty quickly, and to hit the water bottle is a pretty nice goal.”

RIT again answered quickly with a goal on the power play, this time from Cassie Barnes. The Tigers’ power play is the third most efficient in the country, converting 30.9% of opportunities into points.

“They get a lot of traffic in front with big bodies, so it’s hard for our goalie to find the puck,” Farrell said. “I thought our kill did a really good job in creating chaos. We didn’t give them a lot of time to set up, but a couple of breakdowns resulted in goals.”

The game remained deadlocked at 2-2 for the next 21 minutes until Cheung’s game winning goal. She buried it off of a rebound from a Jordan Blouin shot.

“That was a really important win for us,” Farrell said. “We need to continue to climb in the standings. Big points and also momentum and confidence for us.”

The Orange finish the series against RIT tomorrow in Rochester at 3 p.m.