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Three minutes into the second period, Gabbie Rud gained possession near the center of the ice. As Rud approached the Syracuse blue line, Avi Adam made a hard right turn. Kambel Beacom stayed ahead of Rud and Maya D’Arcy dropped near Syracuse’s fold, leaving Adam wide open across the ice.
Rud shot the puck to a slicing Adam who retrieved the pass down the middle. D’Arcy and Rayla Clemons immediately swarmed over her, but Adam fooled them both by pretending she was going to throw the puck to Alexa Davis, who ran down the right side of the boards but instead made a move towards the middle of the ice .
After freeing herself from D’Arcy and Clemons, Adam was untagged. As Beacom moved from position to center, Adam passed the puck to Alyssa Regalado, who had brought Beacom’s point down. Regalado shot straight at Arielle DeSmet, but the puck bounced off her and into the back net, making it 3-0 just 3:04 into the second half.
“I felt like pucks don’t bounce in our direction, it’s tough when it happens,” said Hannah Johnson. “We (have to) fight our way through these unfortunate jumps that we get here and there.”
Syracuse (7-15-1, 4-2 College Hockey America) was hurt by slow starts in tonight’s 1-4 loss to No. 10 Cornell (11-6-2, 8-3-1 ECAC). SU’s inability to start strongly was constant, as three of the four goals it resigned came within the opening 3:04 of the first and second periods.
After Cornell held off Syracuse’s early attacks, Alexa Davis controlled the puck in front of goal and tried to get the Big Red going. Scanning the ice, Davis spotted a wide-open Kaitlin Jockims running toward the Syracuse blue line with no defenders in front of her. After just 2:40 into the game, Jockims quickly put the Big Red ahead.
Despite Cornell taking an early lead, Syracuse played well for the remainder of the first period. Despite penalties from Lauren Bellefontaine and Mik Todd towards the end, SU smothered both of the Big Red’s first-half power plays and DeSmet made 13 saves in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Although the first half ended strongly, the orange struggled again early in the second. After 15 seconds, Tatum White controlled the puck and attempted to slide it into Cornell’s defensive zone. However, White was immediately double-taken and had no help around, allowing Cornell to take possession with ease.
When the puck slipped behind Cornell’s net, Davis retrieved it. McKenna Van Gelder skated to Davis’ right and Davis threw her the puck as she approached Cornell’s blue line. Immediately after receiving the puck, Van Gelder shoved the puck onto the ice near Izzy Daniel.
Although Daniel was initially behind the puck, he ran around Bellefontaine to take a step to retrieve it. As Daniel skated on the right side of the rink, Van Gelder followed their parallel on the left. In a 2-on-1, Mae Batherson committed to Van Gelder, but Daniel took it himself, beating DeSmet for the score.
Within 33 seconds of the start of the half, Syracuse’s deficit grew to two, and two and a half minutes later it was three. As in the first half, Syracuse stayed with Cornell for most of the second half, but giving up two early goals at halftime proved crucial.
After a slow start in the first two halves, SU looked to score early in the third and a gift was made. 11 seconds into the third, Daniel was called for a counter check to give the Oranges a power play right out of goal.
Even when the Syracuse skaters outnumbered Cornells, it failed to get off the ground. After two failed attacks early on in the power play, Orange wanted a final push 30 seconds before Daniel returned to the ice.
After a decent move of the puck across the ice and deep into Cornell’s defensive zone, Bellefontaine controlled the puck just short of the blue line. As the defense gave her space, she fired Syracuse’s only shot during his two-minute lead, which was held by Belle Mende.
Then Hannah Johnson and Madison Primeau connected in a great 1-2 sequence with 10 seconds of power play remaining, leaving Johnson open near the crease, but the puck kicked off her skate and Cornell won the ball, missing her chance to come back in the game.
“I just don’t feel like we really had our jump tonight,” said Britni Smith. “Whether it was the first three minutes of the game or the entire game, I felt like we just didn’t have our leap.”
Published January 17, 2023 at 11:23 p.m
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