Paul Flanagan watched as his team failed to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. Mercyhurst forward Jesse Scanzano sent the puck on net, and teammate Jess Jones cleaned up the rebound and scored.

Syracuse players retreated with their heads down toward center ice after the goal. After tying the game 1-1 in the first period, the Lakers took the wind out of the Orange’s sails with this go-ahead goal.

The Orange had its back against the wall once again.

‘We got a little tired of running around, and when they scored that goal, it was pretty deflating,’ Flanagan said. ‘You have to minimize your mistakes, and you just can’t let that happen.’

Syracuse was overmatched in the second period of Saturday’s game with No. 5 Mercyhurst, and after heading into the first intermission with the score tied, it struggled to stay in the game. The Lakers used two goals in the period to defeat the Orange 4-2 in front of 247 people at the Tennity Ice Pavilion on Saturday. The Orange lost 4-0 to Mercyhurst on Friday.

Syracuse forward Holly Carrie-Mattimoe scored the first goal of the weekend series for the Orange when she scored off a rebound Saturday. The goal came with 10:16 remaining in the first period. And though the Orange prevented Mercyhurst from scoring the rest of the period, the Lakers still held a 12-4 shot advantage.

The Orange went into the dressing room confident it would be able to stay with the Lakers. Flanagan preached during the intermission about how important it would be to get the lead in the second period. He urged his players to push the puck up the ice and get the puck behind the Mercyhurst defenders.

‘We wanted to get pucks behind them and not just dump and chase,’ Flanagan said. ‘Get the puck by them and drive to the outside and make them retreat more so they had to play more defense.’

And in the early stages of the second period, it worked.

Syracuse opened the period with four consecutive scoring chances. Forward Stefanie Marty watched as her powerful shot on a two-on-one opportunity was turned away by Mercyhurst goalie Hillary Pattenden. SU forward Megan Skelly saw one of her shots ring off the crossbar. Nothing could find the back of the net.

The confidence was evident from Syracuse in the early stages of the second period.

‘We just wanted to keep doing the things we were doing,’ Carrie-Mattimoe said.

But Syracuse penalties ground any momentum to a halt. Syracuse picked up three costly penalties that exhausted its players and led to more Mercyhurst scoring opportunities.

And after rushing out of the gate in the second period, Syracuse put up only one shot for the last 15 minutes.

Ashley Cockell picked up two roughing penalties, one of which led to a Mercyhurst goal. That meant a longer period of time its penalty-killing unit had to spend on the ice.

‘We just got a little bit deflated physically,’ Flanagan said. ‘It prevents your offensive capabilities when your forwards get tired and don’t have enough energy.’

With heavier legs, Syracuse defenders struggled to contain the Lakers’ multiple scoring threats. College Hockey America leading scorer Meghan Agosta had a goal and an assist in Mercyhurst’s dominant second period.

The Lakers scored three consecutive goals overall and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Despite playing a more competitive third period, Syracuse was unable to overcome the deficit.

‘I think they have a lot of shooters, but if we could have scored on our opportunities, it could have been a little bit better for us,’ Cockell said. ‘For the most part, we shut them down, but some of the calls didn’t go our way.’

adtredin@syr.edu

 

Published on February 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm