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Maya D’Arcy scanned the ice after collecting the abandoned puck on the left side with over 13 minutes left in the third period. She passed it cross-ice to Rhea Hicks, who sped through the right circle before firing a shot high off the goalie’s glove. Hicks had a lane and an opening in net to the left of Vermont keeper Jessie McPherson. But Hicks put a bit too much on her shot.

SU had eight shots on goals saved in the final period, unable to even the match against No. 13 Vermont. 

Syracuse (7-13-1, 4-2 College Hockey America) fell 2-1 to the No. 13 Catamounts (13-7-1, 8-5-1 Hockey East) despite outshooting them 20-18 in shots on goal. The game went back and forth, but SU failed to convert throughout the third period, when it shot 16 of its shots. Head coach Britni Smith said the team improved their offensive opportunities from yesterday’s 3-1 loss, but didn’t convert enough to win after another sound defensive effort. 

“We talked about our defense being what leads to offense and I think that tonight we really took care of that,” Smith said. “But there were some opportunities off of rebounds that we just couldn’t find pucks on.”

She said the team needs to understand that they want “possession over position.” Meaning SU needs to work harder on controlling the puck than getting set up on offense before it’s secured.

SU strung together more cohesive offensive possessions as the game went on, sparked by Rayla Clemons’ fast break score at 13:08 in the first period.

Sarah Thompson spotted Clemons ahead of the defense and flicked the puck up the ice, hitting the forward as she accelerated into the Catamounts’ wide-open left circle. She crossed over before scooping a backhand into the net. That tied the game for SU, but the offense went dormant after that, despite putting solid pressure on the Catamounts defense throughout. 

Clemons missed on a very similar opportunity yesterday, so this time she knew how to handle it.

“I felt a deja vu moment from yesterday,” Clemons said. “I knew I needed to shoot earlier yesterday, so I did that today.” 

The Orange’s 5% conversion rate (1-of-20), is significantly worse than their season average of .167. Thompson said SU needs to have more people around the net waiting for rebounds and that the team has been working on increasing second-chance opportunities.

“I think we can have more bodies in front,” Thompson said. “We set a goal for one-third of our shots to have a body in front screening the goalie, so that’s something that we are working towards.”

Another missed opportunity for the Orange came off the stick of Thompson after she collected a lead pass from Tatum White. Thompson staked around a defender from the blue line before attempting to stuff the puck through a well-protected right side. The puck was collected by SU and Mae Batherson took a slap shot from between the circles, but like many of SU’s shots from outside the defensive zone, the puck couldn’t sneak through and Vermont took possession. 

After being outscored a combined 15-3 over two games against Penn State, the SU defense needed to bounce back in this series. And on Saturday, the Orange kept the ninth-highest scoring offense in the nation to just two points. The Catamounts average 3.26 points per game, ranking 11th nationally in scoring margin.

Clemons said SU did a lot of film study leading into the week, so they knew how to attack Vermont on defense. The Catamounts have had a lot of success when they penetrate the defensive zone this season, so Syracuse did its best not to let them inside.

“We know that they love to come up the middle, so I think we did a really good job of running our defensive zone check,” Thompson said. “We forced them to make a lot of passes they didn’t want to make.”

SU kept the puck on the sides as much as possible, being physical on the boards which led to four fouls for each team. Overall, Syracuse played “a full 60 minutes,” Thompson said, but couldn’t close it out. 

All Vermont needed was a moment’s hesitation from Syracuse to punch the winning ticket. Halfway through the second period, Corinne McCool passed ahead to Theresa Schafzahl. Schafzahl was met quickly by Mae Batherson and Lauren Bellefontaine, so she flicked her head back and saw McCool following her down the middle. 

She dumped the puck back and took Bellefontaine with her to the corner. McCool had already cocked back to shoot before Batherson could react, and she slammed it past DeSmet to give the Catamounts their 2-1 lead. 

“We made it very challenging for them to get between the dots, and when they did they felt our presence,” Smith said. “If we play like that, we are ready to go on any given night.”

Published on December 10, 2022 at 8:01 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu