Syracuse goalkeeper Jenn Gilligan skated away from the net to the corner of the rink before slowly looping back around and settling back in front of the net. Seconds later she smacked her stick against the goalpost.

Two Cornell goals in 49 seconds had turned a 1-0 deficit into a blowout.

“I felt bad for Jenn,” Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan said. “Kinda, (the defense) left her hanging. Out to dry so to speak.”

Syracuse (5-7-1, 3-1-1 College Hockey America) struggled to contain a dynamic Cornell (2-4-1, 1-2-1 Ivy) offense that struck like lightning Saturday night at the War Memorial Arena. SU’s defense allowed five goals — tied for most on the season — on 13 shots en route to a 5-2 loss.

“It’s really tough starting out a game like that …” Nicole Renault said. “It’s hard to get a lot of energy going when you’re already down a goal.”

The avalanche began just one minute and eight seconds into the game. Cassandra Poudrier sent a slap shot from the right side of the ice that flew into the top left corner of the net unscathed.

The Cornell attack didn’t let up, and Syracuse’s defense struggled to prevent the pressure down the middle of the ice and down the wings, an issue that plagued the Orange all afternoon.

“We were backing off,” Flanagan said. “I know I looked up a number of times when they’d posted a player in the neutral zone, we were 10 or 12 feet away.”

In the 13th minute, Kaitlin Doering found herself one on one staring straight at Gilligan and the nearest Syracuse defender a step behind her.

The lack of defensive pressure allowed Doering to fire an uncontested shot that went just wide of the goal. It was one of many golden opportunities for Cornell that left Syracuse scrambling to regain its footing.

“I think that stunned you,” Flanagan said. “That’s like going, it’s getting a left jab, right jab, left jab before you even know what’s going on. And so I think they were stunned.”

Syracuse adjusted in the second period. The eight shots allowed in the first period were reduced to just one. Syracuse eliminated the long passes and deflections off the wall that had its defense retreating in the first period and replaced it with the production it had been lacking.

But each time Syracuse shut down Cornell, the Big Red came back.

In the fifth minute of the third period, Cornell’s Sydnee Saracco split two defenders and passed it up ahead to Pippy Gerace. Gerace pulled the puck in and out with her stick before flipping it past Gilligan on the right side of the net to push the lead back up to three.

“It’s on my shoulders,” Flanagan said. “I didn’t get the team ready. That’s the bottom line I think. The team wasn’t prepared, I think Cornell was and we get 3-0 and we just couldn’t dig ourselves out of that hole.”

Another goal by Brianna Veerman with four and a half minutes remaining and Syracuse down by two was just window dressing, as the Cornell lead was never in jeopardy.

The slow start left the Orange dazed, and defensive miscues in the first period proved too much to overcome.

“It’s one of those games where no matter what you try and do,” Gilligan said, “the puck just keeps going by you.”

Published on November 14, 2015 at 7:52 pm

Contact Matt: mralex01@syr.edu