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Marielle McHale slapped the puck backwards in the direction of Charlotte Hallet off a faceoff. Hallett ripped a shot from the wing, instead of hitting the target, Hallet’s attempt was blocked by McHale. The graduate student was trying to shield Ena Nystrom’s view, but accidentally set off a Mercyhurst break. Sara Boucher was the first to the loose puck, stretching to aim it toward Mary Kromer.

As she approached the blue line, Kromer controlled the puck. Hallet and Maya D’Arcy both tried cutting off her angle, but Sydney Pederson was streaking up the ice behind them. Pederson separated from McHale as they skated down the ice, leaving her open at the fair post. Kromer slid a perfect pass in between two defenders for Pederson who controlled it with her backhand. With the angle closing, Pederson flicked the puck past Arielle DeSmet in net.

Pederson’s 10th goal of the season came with under a minute remaining in the second period. Syracuse (9-21-2, 6-8-1 College Hockey America) held Mercyhurst (16-13-2, 8-3-2 CHA) scoreless for nearly 40 minutes, but Pederson’s goal helped the Lakers defeat the Orange 2-0.

Syracuse defended as a unit for two periods, which hasn’t been the case at times this season. The Orange have been inconsistent with their effort on the defensive end with head coach Britni Smith saying after a 7-0 loss against Penn State the Orange need to find a way to play a “full three periods”.

The Orange’s effort on the defensive end was better, keeping Mercyhurst quiet for long periods of the game. After losing 6-1 against the Lakers a couple of weekends ago, Syracuse knew what it needed to do to disrupt their offense. Syracuse head coach Britni Smith said her team “hemmed” up the middle of the ice, proving difficult to break down.

“We’re doing better with our one-on-one battles,” Smith said. “We took care of our puck battles…we didn’t need to have someone else jumping in so we could have that layer of support in behind. It came down to being a gritty battle down low.”

Senior defenseman Hannah Johnson said the Orange are working on winning the battles at the blue lines and if a teammate gets caught out, making sure they have the proper support. She emphasized the team still needs to play within its system.

The physicality of both teams stood out, combining for 15 total penalties, giving each team plenty of opportunities on the power play, which neither converted.

Whether it was on the power play or at full strength, Syracuse players were throwing their bodies all over the ice to block shots. The Orange recorded a season high 17 blocked shots, with Johnson leading the effort with five. Coming into the game, Johnson had a team-high 67 blocks on the season, with the next closest player, Mae Batherson recording 31. Johnson’s five-block performance was the third time this season she hit that mark.

Tatum White helped out on the defensive end, recording a career-high four blocks. White said that the Orange keep track of “grit stats” with blocks being a crucial category.

During the second period Thea Johnson lined up a shot from the top of the key, which White stepped in front of, blocking it with her body. While White was on the ground, Rayla Clemons slid over and blocked another attempt from Mercyhurst. The defensive help from the attackers was a crucial part of the defensive effort from the Orange.

On the flip side, Syracuse still struggled to put the puck in the net. To put it simply, if you don’t score goals, you’re not going to win games and the Orange failed to accomplish that. It was the eight time this season Syracuse was held scoreless.

The Orange didn’t create a whole host of chances but did get good looks in front of the net. Syracuse generated its chances mostly through shots from around the blue line hoping for a deflection or a rebound to go its way. Batherson and Johnson let fly a few times with Nystrom spilling the puck in front, but the Orange couldn’t get a bounce to go their way.

“We were able to get pucks to the crease and create those battles for ourselves,” Smith said. “It might not be a tic tac toe play that gets the goal the first one to get us on the board, it’ll probably come from just getting the puck in her pads and finding a rebound. So I thought when we were getting our offense, that’s where it was.”

The second period, the Orange didn’t create much, staying pinned in their zone, only managing two shots on target, while Mercyhurst had 9 in the period. In the first and third period both teams were even in terms of shots on target, but the breakaway goal at the end of the second ended up being the difference.

Johnson felt it could’ve “been a different game” if Syracuse got a couple of bounces to go its way. But that wasn’t the case for the Orange, with Mercyhurst capitalizing on two mistakes and converting.

With around 90 seconds remaining, Syracuse tried to pull Arielle DeSmet off the ice and gain a man advantage. As the Orange dumped the puck into the zone, Mercyhurst cleared it right back when DeSmet neared the bench. Not knowing what to do, DeSmet controlled the puck which was taken by Lilian Perreault who fired it into an empty net to seal the Orange’s fate.

Johnson said that Syracuse will keep it simple offensively going forwards, trying to make it easier to get out on the break. Smith also wants the Orange to be more clinical heading down the stretch of the season where every game “feels like the playoffs.” Smith said the Orange did a good job of creating opportunities, but they just have to “bury” them in the future.

Published on February 10, 2023 at 10:49 pm

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