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After winning the College Hockey America regular season title, multiple Syracuse players, along with head coach Paul Flanagan have received the conference’s year-end awards. Arielle DeSmet, Lauren Bellefontaine, Jessica DiGirolamo and Abby Moloughney each won different individual CHA awards.

Flanagan was recognized for leading Syracuse to a successful season, earning his fourth CHA coach of the year award. Syracuse started the season 0-3-2 but rebounded to finish 13-10-6. The Orange hit their stride at the start of 2022 and have been 7-1-2 in the new year. Flanagan also won his 200th game as SU’s coach, in a 4-3 win over Lindenwood on Jan 29.

DeSmet was named the CHA’s goaltender of the year. After transferring from Robert Morris after its program disbanded, DeSmet won the starting job over former starter Allison Small. On Feb. 5, DeSmet almost single-handedly kept Syracuse in the game when she recorded 54 saves in a 2-1 overtime win against Penn State, the second-most in program history.

DeSmet only allowed 46 goals this season, recording 710 saves, and finished top 25 in the NCAA in win percentage and goals against average. She also had a CHA best .939 save percentage.

DiGirolamo earned the CHA defenseman of the year award. In her fifth year at Syracuse, the graduate student emerged as the program’s all-time leader in assists by a defenseman. This season, DiGirolamo recorded six goals and 10 assists and also had a team-high 65 blocks.

Bellefontaine was named the CHA’s defensive forward of the year, serving as Syracuse’s best two-way forward this season. The senior forward recorded eight goals and 14 assists this season and finished third on the team with 22 points. Defensively, Bellefontaine recorded 43 blocks and also was Syracuse’s main faceoff taker, as she totaled a team-high 373 faceoffs won.

The final Syracuse player to receive an award was Moloughney, who won a CHA co-individual sportsmanship award alongside Mercyhurst’s K.K. Thiessen. Moloughney also won the award in the 2019-20 season.

Published on February 23, 2022 at 2:34 pm

Contact Adam: amccaffe@syr.edu