A thunderous applause echoed from the Syracuse locker room. Paul Flanagan’s squad had just shocked No. 3 Boston College. Its first win against a top-five opponent and first-ever win against the Eagles.

“We understand the recipe for our team to be successful. We have to work hard,” Flanagan said. “When we have faltered so far this year, it’s when we have been outworked.”

After losing four of its last five games, Syracuse was desperate for an offensive eruption. The Orange averaged less than three goals a game during this stretch of play.

Fortunately for Flanagan, his team answered the call with a combined nine goals in two victories. Syracuse (4-4) executed its offensive game plan at the right time, defeating Boston College (5-2) 4-1 on Friday in front of 258 at Tennity Ice Pavilion. SU then knocked off Union (3-5) 5-2 on Saturday.

From the first drop of the puck, Syracuse matched the Eagles in every facet of the game. There was no sign of intimidation, a problem that plagued the Orange while playing nationally ranked Clarkson a few weeks ago.

Instead, Flanagan’s squad was aggressive on the attack. Freshman Jessica Sibley scored for the Orange less than three minutes into the first period to put her team on top 1-0.

“I went around the circle and saw that I would be able to cut to the net,” Sibley said. “It was good to get first on the board. The team got really pumped up and we kept the momentum going from there.”

A one-goal lead was not a comfortable setting for a team that has been struggling on the offensive end. When a power play opportunity came early in the second period, forward Allie LaCombe capitalized on the assist from defender Kaillie Goodnough to give the Orange a 2-0 lead.

“The goal I give credit to my teammates,” LaCombe said. “It was a power play goal. It was a nice shot from Goodnough at the point and I happened to tip it in.”

Syracuse stayed on the attack as Sibley and forward Margot Scharfe continued to keep Boston College on its heels. Scharfe scored with less than two minutes left in the period to give the Orange a three-goal cushion.

The Eagles answered when forward Kate Leary scored midway into the third period to cut the lead to two.

But any momentum that Boston College tried to gain did not even last a minute. Forward Sadie St. Germain scored 48 seconds later to secure the biggest win in program history, supplanting a win over then-No. 8 Cornell on Jan. 5, 2010.

“That’s a good win for us,” Flanagan said. “If anything, that builds confidence when you get down into league play and in big games against good teams. That’s something to fall back on.”

Less than 24 hours later, Syracuse capitalized on four power play opportunities en route to a win over Union.

“It’s big to execute on our power plays,” Scharfe said. “I think we kept it simple today, which really helped to keep shots on net. Things went our way today which really helped our momentum.”

Published on October 28, 2013 at 12:20 am