From behind the net, Kelli Rowswell took the puck and carried it out. She skated around the faceoff circle, positioned herself right in the shooting lane, and let the shot off. Penn State goalie Chantal Burke extended her right leg.

Rowswell’s individual effort gave the Orange a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. But the puck was only in the offensive zone because her teammate, Jessica DiGirolamo’s active stick intercepted the Nittany Lions breakout pass in the neutral zone. 

After losing to Penn State the night before and conceding the first goal of Saturday’s game,  Syracuse scored three unanswered goals over the final 40 minutes against the Nittany Lions. Rowswell’s tally — her seventh of the season —  proved to be the game-winner and lifted Syracuse (8-16-1, 7-4-1 College Hockey America) over Penn State (10-10-6, 5-4-3), 3-1. 

“It’s a world of difference when our kids engaged physically,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “I mean, when you get involved physically and use your body just to protect the puck, to make a play, instead of reaching with our sticks I thought we were a lot more engaged.” 

From puck drop, both teams aggressively hunted the puck and got involved in the corners, seeking the first goal of the match. Occasionally, that puck aggression and physicality backfired, resulting in penalties for both sides: five for Syracuse and three for Penn State. With five minutes to play in the second, Savannah Rennie checked a Penn State skater as they battled for the puck in the corner, and the referee immediately stuck his hand in the air.

When Penn State and Syracuse weren’t killing off penalties, they peppered shots toward Burke and SU goalie Allison Small, trying to force a rebound and break the stalemate. Syracuse finished the opening 20 minutes with 12 shots. Penn State put 13 on Small in the first period alone. On Friday night, the Nittany Lions never managed more than eight in a period. 

“Yesterday we didn’t really get many pucks through,” Lauren Bellefontaine said. “Our main goal today was to get shots on the net so we got more chances and rebounds. Because our shots were high yesterday, we either missed or she [Burke]  just easily saved it.”

That style of play was the same reason Penn State scored its only goal of the night midway through the second period. A shot from the blue line by SU defender Shelby Calof was stopped short by a pair of Nittany Lions’ legs, bouncing off the blue and white-clad shin right into the path of PSU forward Mikayla Lantto. With Calof out of position, Lantto started on a breakaway and roofed the shot past Small after a double-deke. 

Three minutes later, though, Syracuse’s aggressiveness paid dividends. DiGirolamo teed up a shot from the point and the rebound off Burke was corralled by Victoria Klimek, who buried the rebound to equalize the game. Just fifty-two seconds after Klimek equalized, Rowswell gave the Orange the lead. Coming into tonight, Nittany Lions goalie Burke hadn’t let in a goal in over 100 minutes of play, but in less than a minute Syracuse had scored all it needed to win.

“Generating a lot of shots, that definitely helps,” said Rowswell. “You always want to increase your opportunities to score by getting on net.”

Syracuse put three fewer shots on net compared to Friday’s game, but the quality of the shots taken by the Orange was much higher, Bellefontaine said. In its first game against the Nittany Lions, SU consistently shot high where Burke could easily trap the puck or watch it sail harmlessly over the crossbar. But on Saturday, the Orange shot much lower to the ground, forcing Burke to give up rebounds for secondary opportunities or allowing tips en route to the net. 

In the third period, Penn State began to take shots from all across the ice, looking for an equalizing goal. Much like last night, Small played one of the strongest games of her season, stopping 39 of 40 shots, and making acrobatic saves. Hard-fought conference opponents like Penn State are going to be more common the later into the season the Orange get. All six schools in the intimate CHA vying for playoff spots will employ a similar tactic of physicality.

Against the Orange, Penn State couldn’t equalize, despite having a power play from a Lindsay Eastwood holding call in the final minutes. And with 20 seconds remaining, Rennie scored on the empty net, securing the SU win. 

“I think we just wanted it more today than yesterday,” Bellefontaine said.

Published on January 25, 2020 at 8:49 pm

Contact Will: wrhentsc@syr.edu