On the powerplay and down one with just seven minutes remaining in the third period, Syracuse needed a goal. Instead, a giveaway led to a one-on-one breakaway chance for Robert Morris’ Jaycee Gebhard, who raced in on Allison Small’s net.

As Syracuse picked up the rebound after Small’s save and drove down the ice, Abby Moloughney picked up the puck down low near the end boards. She eventually parked in front of the net and fired high over Raygan Kirk’s net on the one timer despite an open goal. The puck quickly cycled to the point and another shot was taken. Through the traffic Kirk sprawled forward on her stomach to ice the puck and snuff out yet another chance.

“Honestly, I felt like chances really weren’t going our way,” Jessica DiGirolamo said. “A few times we had bodies in front of the net and she (Kirk) still somehow stopped the puck.”

Syracuse (12-19-2, 10-7-2 College Hockey America) ran into the reigning CHA rookie of the week, Kirk, and was shut out 2-0 by Robert Morris (19-10-4, 13-4-2) on Friday night. Chance after chance came for the Orange — they had 38 compared to the Colonials’ 19 — but Kirk every shot. Syracuse dominated the scoring chances, the faceoff dot and limited a top 10 scoring offense in the nation to less than 20 shots on net, but just couldn’t manufacture the necessary tallies.

Coming into the game Robert Morris was four points ahead of Syracuse and on a three-game point streak where it scored 15 goals. In Friday’s game, the Colonials were starved for chances for most of the game. Syracuse outshot Robert Morris 14 to four in the first period and on the rare chances the Colonials had, Small produced a timely save. For the first half of the second period, it was much of the same: The Orange were outshooting RMU and looked like they would be the first team to light the lamp.

That was until Kyleigh Hanzlik picked up the puck on the boards. Hanzlik took just a few strides into the slot and roofed a puck top shelf on Small giving her no chance to make the save. At that point in the game, Syracuse was outshooting Robert Morris 27 to seven.

“I think I played well, it sucks when you give up one goal and we end up losing the game,” Small said. “You want to keep the team in it so it’s just upsetting.”

But Small and her defense did keep Syracuse in the game. Even after scoring, Robert Morris didn’t even have 10 shots on goal going into the third period. Small made 17 saves on 18 shots, with the Colonials second goal being an empty netter after the Orange pulled their goalie and attempted to tie the game with an extra player. Robert Morris’s top duo of Gebhard and Lexi Templeman came into the game at 59 and 40 points on the season, respectively. Apart from the empty netter both players were kept quiet for the entire game. 

“I feel like when the defense plays well, I think the offense really needs to step up,” DiGirolamo said. “You can’t win a game with zero goals so we definitely need to get the puck in the back of the net.”

Syracuse even killed off the lone Robert Morris power play attempt, a unit that came in ranked second nationally in power-play goals and third in power-play percentage. The difference came at the other end of the ice where the Colonial’s freshman goalie proved to be the difference. Kirk, the reigning Manitoba Chicken female athlete of the year, stopped all 38 shots that Syracuse threw on her net.

It’s become a trend for the Orange lately to run into a hot goalie and lose crucial CHA points. On Feb. 8, Syracuse tied RIT 2-2 as Terra Lanteigne recorded 61 saves. Two weeks later, Kennedy Blair shutout Syracuse with 25 saves and was named CHA goalie of the week for her performance. And on a night where SU doubled the amount of shots taken by the Colonials, it was Syracuse once again finding themselves on the losing end.

“I mean, in any sport you get the ball, the puck, or whatever in your hands you gotta make plays,” head coach Paul Flanagan said.

Published on February 29, 2020 at 12:16 am

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu