First, senior goalie Jenn Gilligan kneeled down to the ground and fell on a puck that came in fast and low. A few minutes later, she leaned to the right and made herself bigger as a puck that was destined for the top shelf got pushed away by her upper body. Later on she snatched an incredibly fast-moving puck right out of midair. And that was all just in the first period.

Penn State jumped out to a fast start, Gilligan’s nine saves in the first 20 minutes kept the Nittany Lions scoreless.

Gilligan’s strong play helped save a Syracuse (8-9-1, 5-1-1 College Hockey America) team that didn’t have its “A” game in a 3-1 win over conference rival Penn State (4-10-3, 1-3-3) on Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

“Jenn kept us in that game … that’s why you want a veteran goalie. (For when) the going gets tough,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said.

The Orange came out flat to start the game and played tentatively for much of the contest. The puck was stuck in the Syracuse zone for much of the period as Penn State repeatedly probed and got shots off. SU racked up three penalties in the first period, which meant there were long stretches in which it was playing down a player.

There were several times throughout that first period when Orange defenders came over to give Gilligan a slight tap, showing their gratitude for her outstanding play.

“It’s great to have Gilly back there playing hard in the net. … I don’t think people realize it as much … the way she’s out there, talking to us, settling us down, it’s just really good to have,” senior defender Nicole Renault said.

Gilligan’s lone blemish came toward the end of the second period. With 15 minutes already elapsed, junior PSU forward Amy Peterson slipped behind the Syracuse defense and had a one-on-one with Gilligan. Peterson skated straight down the middle until she was a few feet away from the goal, when she leaned to the right and snuck the puck right under Gilligan’s leg.

A dejected looking Flanagan put his head down as the Nittany Lions goal tied the score at 1-1.

“She just came in with speed, you gotta tip your hat to her,” Gilligan said. “I tried to take away the low ice as quickly as I could and she made a nice move and put it in. Nothing you can really do about it.”

Even though the game was tied, Syracuse still didn’t play with as much as intensity as it has in past games. Flanagan pointed out that even after the first period, Gilligan made “four or five really good saves” to keep the Orange a goal away from the lead.

Gilligan’s strong game was rewarded. With three minutes and 17 seconds left in the game, junior forward Jessica Sibley found herself right in front of the goalie and slapped in a puck that was originally shot by senior Melissa Piacentini, to give the Orange a lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.

Gilligan talked about how that goal served as a stress reliever. After playing such a strong game, she finally started playing with a lead again, only needing to hold on for a few more minutes to give her team the lead.

She stressed the importance of taking things slowly in games like these, when the whole team seems to be struggling.

“You just gotta kinda stay in the game, and take it one shot at a time,” Gilligan said. “That’s what the team did, that’s what I did, and we came out with the victory.”

Published on December 5, 2015 at 12:00 am

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer