Providence dominated the second period, besting Syracuse in virtually every facet of the game. The Friars nearly doubled the Orange in shots, had two more power plays, won three more faceoffs and led in almost every statistic. By the end of the period, Syracuse’s lone advantage placed in just one category — goals.

Despite being outplayed in the second period, the Orange (1-3-1) escaped with its lead intact after Brooke Avery’s goal with three minutes left gave the Orange a 2-0 lead, which it would never relinquish. The goal halted Providence’s (3-2-0, 1-0 Hockey East) seemingly productive period in its tracks, allowing the Orange to hang to the 2-1 victory on Friday at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

“We absolutely stole it,” head coach Paul Flanagan said, regarding the second period. “We got the lead and we got a little relaxed. We have to play more desperate earlier in the period.”

Syracuse took its first lead of the season in the first period on Kelli Rowswell’s second goal of the year. After an Orange shot went awry and was deflected behind the net, Rowswell’s teammates moved up the ice, transitioning to defense. But the sophomore corralled the rebound, skated through four Providence defenders and snuck a shot above the Friar goalie Madison Myers’ glove.

The maneuver rendered both players and fans speechless. Rowswell raised both arms in the air to celebrate, but waited a few seconds before her teammates realized what had happened. But that goal changed the Orange’s pace of play.

Phil Bryant | Contributing Photographer

“We got a little bit too confident,” said goalie Abbey Miller. “We almost played in fear of losing the lead instead of getting another (goal).”

Miller received the brunt of the strong play from Providence. The Friars were able to get off 15 shots in the stanza, 11 of which were on net. It was a drastic shift from the first period, in which Providence managed just nine shots attempts in total.

After Syracuse completed its best opening 20 minutes of the season, the Orange struggled against the more aggressive Friars.

“The team that has more shots usually dominates the period,” said Avery. “They took that period a little bit from us. We got lucky with the goal.”

Despite being on the receiving end of a weak second period, a Rowsell shot bounced the right way. After receiving the second pass of a give-and-go with Alysha Burriss, Rowswell skated to the middle of the Friars’ zone and directed a wrist shot off the left post. The ricochet fell in front of Avery, who was there for the rebound and tapped the puck in.

It was the culmination of a period in which Providence had every chance to tie the game, but failed to do so.

“I think that although they outworked us, we had really strong defense,” said Rowswell.

The Orange may have been outworked in the second period, but it wasn’t outscored.

Published on October 13, 2017 at 7:44 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34