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As the puck rolled away from a save by Syracuse goalie Allie Kelley toward the right faceoff zone, St. Lawrence’s Julia Gosling skated from the right boards to pick it up and fake a shot. As Gosling skated laterally across the ice, she slammed a shot to the right post which ricocheted into the net on a St. Lawrence power play to put the Saints up 4-2.

Just over eight minutes in the third, it was St. Lawrence’s second power-play goal of the game. The Saints’ power play unit would add two more goals that period, propelling No. 10 St. Lawrence (16-8, 9-3 ECAC) past Syracuse (4-18-2, 1-8 College Hockey America) 6-3 in the Orange’s non-conference finale.

The Orange held strong against a ranked opponent for longer than they usually have this season, but four goals from the Saints in the third was too much for Syracuse to handle.

“They’ve got a number of threats,” Syracuse head coach Britni Smith said after the game. “So you eliminate one and they’ll find another. (St. Lawrence) did a good job moving the puck around, finding those lanes.”

Just over four minutes into the game, Sarah Marchand, who transferred from Syracuse this offseason, almost scored a wrap-around goal. But after a review, the goal was called off due to goalie interference.

After the goal was called off, Kelley got to work. Using her leg on one shot and her arm on another, the graduate stopped multiple quality chances from the Saints. But a hooking penalty on Heidi Knoll early in the period would hurt the Orange.

Just over 30 seconds into the power play, Abby Hustler skated away from Kelley and toward the middle of the ice. As she turned towards the goal, she fired off a pass to Gosling in the right faceoff circle. A one-timer from the senior got past Kelley for the opening goal.

The Saints doubled their lead just three minutes later when Hustler received a pass from the right side and hammered a shot into the top right corner off the assist from Gabi Jones.

After going up two, St. Lawrence’s offense started to settle down. But, Syracuse still struggled to put anything together. Using their speed, the Saints had the advantage throughout the first frame. By the end of the period, St. Lawrence outshot Syracuse 26-5.

The Orange did have success in one statistical category: blocked shots. Kelley found an extra layer of protection in front of the net throughout the first period as the SU defense combined for six blocked shots. Syracuse finished the day with 14.

However, the Orange were constantly plagued by errors as they tried to advance up the ice. Icing, offsides and pucks flying out of play stopped multiple Syracuse advances. When the team did make it across the blue line, St. Lawrence quickly covered man-to-man to limit Syracuse’s chances.

The second period was an entirely different story.

“I think it would have been easy there after the first period to kind of give into it and I thought we did a really good job of kind of (a) gut check, find our legs a little bit,” Smith said. “It was a character response.”

The Orange started the period on the power play due to a penalty on the Saints’ Hillary Sterling as the first period ended.

Syracuse took advantage right away. A shot from near the blue line from Kate Holmes was deflected on the left post and in by Darci Johal just 31 seconds into the period. It was the graduate student’s team-leading 8th goal of the year.

“I think (Johal and I) just worked hard to practice together and we know where each other are through communicating and that helps a lot,” Holmes said after the game.

Just under five minutes later, Johal returned the favor. The forward passed across the ice from the left boards to Holmes in the right faceoff zone. There, the graduate student sent a shot that came trickling under the legs of St. Lawrence goalie Sirena Alvarez. The goal led to a goalie change as freshman Kassidy Lawrence came in for the Saints.

While Syracuse had offensive fireworks early, it was Kelley who kept the Orange in the game with 21 second period saves.

Syracuse also found itself competing more in the center zone, leading to more offensive zone possessions for the Orange. While still getting outshot 47-14 through two periods, Syracuse was in the game.

“I think our mindset (during the third) was we can come out and win,” Johal said. “We were down two goals and we came back. So I think just really thinking we could come out on top.”

St. Lawrence struck first in the final period thanks to a shot from the right faceoff zone by Aly McLeod 6:46 into the period. Less than two minutes later, Gosling scored her second goal on the power play. While Syracuse would get one back when Holmes scored 12:24 into the third, a five-minute major penalty on Sarah Thompson proved lethal.

St. Lawrence’s Mae Batherson got to work. The graduate student, who also transferred from Syracuse, scored two goals on the penalty. A pair of shots by Batherson from straight up the middle near the blue line put the cherry on top of a 6-3 win.

Despite a program-record 65 saves for Kelley, which included the 3000th of her NCAA career, the Saints’ power play proved too much. St. Lawrence finished 4-for-6 with a skater up.

“I just have to do a lot more shoulder checks (on the penalty kill) to make sure nobody’s open back door and see where I need to go. But it’s tougher because they have an extra man in front screening. So they got a couple because of that,” Kelley said.

St. Lawrence finished with 71 shots on goal, its most in a game this season by 19.

“​​We have had good chemistry with our lines the few games and our (defense) have been doing a really good job being involved in the play offensively,” St. Lawrence Head Coach Chris Wells told The Daily Orange over text. “I think that allowed us to generate so many shots tonight.”

Published on January 16, 2024 at 10:11 pm