Syracuse (3-7-2, 2-0-1 College Hockey America) beat Rochester Institute of Technology (4-8-1, 1-4-0), 4-1, Friday at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester. It’s the first road win of the year for the Orange, which set a season-high in goals scored. After beginning the season 1-7-1, the Orange is 2-0-1 since starting conference play.

With 64 total shots in the game and 40 on goal, Syracuse dominated the game from the outset. Tigers goalkeeper Terra Lanteigne made 36 saves in the loss, including 28 in the first two periods alone. On the other end, SU senior goalie Abbey Miller stopped 19 of the 20 shots she faced.

Lindsay Eastwood got Syracuse on the board early, scoring on her team’s first power-play opportunity of the game. The goal, her second of the year, came just past the midway point of first period, and gave the Orange a lead it would never relinquish. Kelli Rowswell’s team-leading fourth goal — off a feed from Brooke Avery — followed Eastwood’s by six minutes and Syracuse entered the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.

The second period was the best of the contest for RIT, which sent nine shots on target in the stanza, a game high for the Tigers. RIT connected on one to cut the Orange lead in half. Despite 15 Syracuse shots on goal, it came out of the period empty handed.

The Orange owned a 2-1 lead at the second intermission, setting an ominous tone for a team that’s struggled holding onto leads this year.

The teams played to a stalemate through the first 18 minutes of the final period, trading shots on goal to no avail. It was the most disciplined period of the game for Syracuse, which was called for just one penalty during the final 20 minutes after earning seven in the first two periods combined. The self-control paid off for the Orange, which entered the contest as the second-most penalized team per game in the country.

The lack of power play opportunities thwarted the Tigers offense and allowed Brooke Avery’s goal with 1:25 left in the game to seal the game for Syracuse. Sophomore defender Logan Hicks added her first career goal on an empty-net score with six seconds left.

Syracuse is back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. in a rematch against RIT. The teams will travel east to Syracuse to play in Tennity Ice Pavilion for the latter half of the home-and-home series.

Published on November 17, 2017 at 9:35 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34