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As Darci Johal moved into the Syracuse offensive zone, she saw teammate Tatum White closely trailing behind. Johal flicked the puck behind her and White collected it. Syracuse’s captain took a few strides forward and saw a streaking Johal made her way to the front of the net.

White passed it to Johal in front of the net, where she tapped it past RIT goalie Sarah Coe with 1:42 left in the first period.

Johal’s goal, the second for the forward in less than two minutes, gave SU an early 2-0 lead. While the Orange would add another goal in the second, Johal’s scoring was all Syracuse (4-13-2, 1-6-1 College Hockey America) needed in a 3-1 victory over RIT (8-7-2, 4-4 CHA). The win broke a winless streak for Syracuse that dated back to Oct. 14 (3-2 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and gave the Orange their first CHA win of the season.

The all-around success started early for Syracuse when it won the faceoff and controlled the pace of play through the first few minutes of the game.The Tigers got back to looking how they did in game one of the series soon after. As RIT threatened offensively multiple times, a 5-1 shot lead by Syracuse shrunk to 6-5 lead.

When Syracuse’s Haley Uliasz got called for holding 7:52 into the period, the Tigers had their best chance yet on a power play. Emma Pickering fired a shot from the middle of the RIT offensive zone. The puck bounced off Allie Kelley and then the left post, but stayed out of the goal.

The Orange killed off the power play and got a great chance of their own when White flicked a shot from the right faceoff circle. However, Coe made the save.

As the teams traded shots, Kelley looked on top of her game, but had more shots to save when White had a high sticking penalty, called 5:36 into the period. The Tigers struggled on the powerplay, as they have all season. RIT entered the game with the second-worst power play unit in the CHA.

After Syracuse killed the power play, Johal took over.

Alexandria Weiss received a turnover on the defensive blue line then pushed the puck ahead to Johal. The Holy Cross transfer received it as she skated into the offensive zone. She moved towards the right faceoff area and fired a wrist shot into the top right corner to give the Orange a 1-0 lead. Just over 90 seconds later, Johal converted her second goal.

While the Orange would finish the period outshot on goal (13-11), the two shots that found the back of the net gave Syracuse a 2-0 lead.

As the second period started, Syracuse once again went on a fast start. While both teams stepped up physically, the referees for the most part kept play moving. The Orange and Tigers went back and forth until almost four minutes into the period.

After missing a shot, Kate Holmes took the puck from a pair of RIT defenders in the right faceoff circle. Holmes moved it across the crease to Sarah Thompson, who poked the puck into a wide open goal.

With a three-goal lead, the Orange layed off their offensive pressure a bit and focused on keeping the lead, something they have struggled with this year. Syracuse’s two powerplay advantages in the period also helped the time-killing cause.

A few minutes after Thompson’s goal, Linda Rulle was called for tripping. Johal continued to skate all around the ice, but could not find a power play goal for the Orange. Even as play returned to even strength, Syracuse’s spacing of the ice continued to cause struggles for RIT. While RIT did move down the ice, Kelley stepped up.

In addition to the offensive fireworks from Johal, Kelley finished with 27 saves on 28 shots in one of her best performances of the season. Kelley’s performance on the ice was reminiscent of early season performances that earned Kelley two CHA goalkeeper of the week awards. After 40 minutes, she saved 18 shots.

Syracuse earned another power play chance when Chloe McNeil was called for interference, but the Tigers held strong, getting a shot of their own shorthanded.

RIT had chances throughout the period, even finding its way to the front of the net, but couldn’t convert. On the other end of the ice, multiple long passes from the Orange ended in icing and offsides penalties, keeping it at a 3-0 game. By the end of two periods, Syracuse was still in control.

The third period was plagued with penalties and a different looking Syracuse strategy. With a three-goal lead, Syracuse dropped back to play more defensively. The change in play halted early on when Heidi Knoll was called for tripping, but the Orange killed off the penalty once again.

As Syracuse retreated, the Tigers put more pressure on the opposing goal. 5:32 into the period, Lexi Sung took the puck near the boards and sliced a pass in front of the net to Mcneil. She whiffed on the puck, instead passing it behind her, where Mia Tsilemos fired it home from the left faceoff circle for her first career goal.

With just a two-goal deficit, Syracuse played with a little more offensive urgency, but mostly retreated. Two penalties in the last ten minutes on RIT gave the Orange power play opportunities, but Syracuse sat content with its lead, holding off the Tigers and winning its first CHA game of the season.

Published on December 2, 2023 at 6:26 pm