Kristen Siermachesky wanted to go back in the game. The sophomore was one of five remaining defensemen playing without Syracuse’s senior captain Lindsay Eastwood for the second-straight game. She took the ice for one shift with 11 minutes remaining in the second period, then headed back to the locker room. Siermachesky would not emerge until after the game in street clothes, favoring her left arm and shoulder.

“She tried to come back, but she couldn’t,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan, “She probably should have laid on the ice (after the initial hit), but she’s a tough kid.”

Despite being reduced to four defensemen for the final 35 minutes of the game, the Orange (6-17-2, 6-5-1 College Hockey America) battled to a 1-1 tie with Penn State (10-10-5, 4-7-1). Penn State was short-handed themselves, losing sophomore defenseman Morgan Rolph to a lower body injury after a nasty collision with Allie Munroe on the boards with 13:20 remaining in the second. The tie gives Syracuse an undefeated 3-0-1 record against the Nittany Lions in the regular season and keeps them at third in the conference.

SU opened the scoring for the second day in a row. Sophomore Emma Polaski lofted a shot on net, hoping to pick up a deflection. Junior Savannah Rennie was in just the right place and redirected the bouncing puck past PSU’s goaltender to put SU ahead 1-0 with 12:17 to play in the first.

“It felt good,” Rennie said, “A long time coming.”

But three minutes later, the Nittany Lions had a bit of good fortune of their own. PSU forward Loli Fidler came around to goalie Maddi Welch’s right from behind the net and banked in a backhand off the back of Welch’s right blocker.

With the game tied at one, both teams seemed to up the physicality. Sophomore Jessica DiGirolamo seemed to catch a PSU player around the neck with a stick. Just one minute later, PSU’s Abby Welch — Maddi’s sister — leveled Siermachesky into the boards from behind, injuring Siermachesky’s shoulder and earning Welch a two minute penalty for body checking.

Earlier in the season, Dakota Derrer’s season ended at State College because of a questionable hit against the boards, but neither Flanagan nor the players read much into that.

“To be honest with you, Dakota’s (injury) was iffy,” Flanagan said, “That’s just part of the game unfortunately.”

Without Siermachesky, offensive players were forced to do more to aid the defense. For some, like Lauren Bellefontaine, that meant blocking shots. The freshman finished with four blocks, a career-high.

For junior forward Anonda Hoppner, it meant controlling the puck in the offensive zone for as long as possible, despite pushes, pulls and even a takedown in the second period that prompted some barking from the referee toward Hoppner.

“She had her stick in between my legs holding me down,” said Hoppner. “When I’m 6-foot-4 on the ice going against girls that are 5-foot-5 and I’m being told that I’m holding them down … it doesn’t make any sense.”

Despite the aggressiveness, neither team could break the deadlock. SU’s Kelli Rowswell had a breakaway opportunity with a minute left in the second period but was denied on the backhand.

The Nittany Lions couldn’t get past Welch either, as the senior finished with 23 saves. The only shot that beat her from straight-on hit the corner of the crossbar and the post and ricocheted out. PSU called a timeout and asked for a review, which confirmed the miss.

Hoppner was ripped down from behind again with 1:55 in the third period, and Brooke Avery got into it with a PSU defender in the waning seconds of overtime. But with the physicality of Saturday’s matchup, SU escaped with a tie against the Nittany Lions.

“That’s just conference play in general,” Bellefontaine said, “it’s always really competitive.”

Published on January 26, 2019 at 7:56 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu