SU women’s hockey drops weekend games to Penn State.
SU women’s hockey swept by Penn State.
The Nittany Lions outscored the Orange 10-4 across two games at the Tennity Ice Pavilion.
Syracuse women’s hockey went into this past weekend looking for two wins to jump-start their College America Hockey conference play against No. 15 Penn State Nittany Lions but the Orange came up short in both games losing the first game of the weekend 4-2 on Saturday and 6-2 on Sunday.
The Orange did find some positives to build upon after facing a tough Nittany Lions team. Syracuse’s special teams were strong all weekend, holding Penn State to 0-5 on the power play and scoring two power-play goals.
“Our penalty kill has been really good for us this season,” said coach Britni Smith. “Special teams for us is important. I thought our penalty kill and power play were both good for us this weekend.”
In Saturday’s game, the Orange got off to a good start against Penn State forcing pucks to be shot from the point and not allowing the Nittany Lions to really create much offensively. Allie Kelley was strong in net stopping 16 shots out of a total of 39 shots saved for the game, holding the game scoreless into the second period.
Penn State captain Julie Gough started the scoring with just over three minutes into the second period. She was assisted by Tessa Janecke and Carrie Byrnes. The Nittany Lions then added another goal with 8:01 remaining in the second period Leah Stecker struck to make it 2-0.
Alexandria Weiss got Cuse on the board early in the third period by taking the puck all the way and scoring herself, firing the puck off of Penn State’s goalie and into the net. This was her first goal for Syracuse.
“It felt really good, especially since we were down at the time and it felt like I was bringing energy for our team,” said Weiss on her goal.
Penn State re-established its two-goal lead with Kendall Butze scoring her first of the season, but Syracuse would not back down as Darci Johal scored with under a minute to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Nittany Lions. She scored off a rebound that resulted from a shot by Rachel Teslak.
However, Butze added her second goal of the game, an empty net goal off the face-off with 17 seconds left to secure the victory for Penn State and stop Syracuse’s late charge. This was her first multi-goal game of her career.
Sunday’s game featured a much better start for the Orange. The defense was cutting passing lanes and getting more pucks deep in the offensive zone but Penn State still was able to break through with 15 seconds remaining in the period. The goal was scored by Gough, her second of the weekend.
SU was able to get on board early into the second period with a tic-tac-toe goal scored by Sarah Thompson, set up by a pass from Rayla Clemons and Marielle McHale.
Penn State answered back with a goal by Mya Vaslet with just over 10 minutes left in the period to give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead going into the final 20 minutes.
Penn State then put the hammer down in the third, blitzing Syracuse for four goals. Maddy Christian scored the first of the period unassisted followed up by goals from Karley Garcia, Tessa Janecke, and Stella Retrum. Retrum’s goal was the first of her collegiate career. Rachel Teslak scored a second goal for the Orange and her second goal of the weekend in between Janecke and Retrum’s goal.
With the weekend sweep Penn State improves its record to 3-6-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. While Syracuse drops to 3-7-1 and 0-2 in conference play.
The Orange will be on the ice again next weekend at Robert Morris on Nov. 3 and 4. The puck will drop at 7 p.m. on Friday and at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
is a contributor for The NewsHouse.
is a photographer for The NewsHouse.