A mistake deep in the Syracuse zone put the Orange in an early hole.

About six minutes into the SU ice hockey team’s matchup with Mercyhurst, freshman defender Erin Burns picked up the puck behind the SU goal. She skated right and attempted to clear the zone herself, but she had the puck poke-checked away.

The Lakers gained possession and began working the puck around the zone. Forward Kylie Rossler eventually deflected a shot past Syracuse goaltender Lucy Schoedel to give the Lakers an early lead.

Turnovers and costly penalties put SU in a hole it could not climb out of against the No. 1 team in the country. The Orange worked its way back into the game and only lost 4-3, but missed a chance to pull off the biggest win in program history.

And the players and coaches said that the mistakes cost the Orange the game.

‘We played all right for 40 minutes,’ SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. ‘I think that we coughed up a couple soft goals that we gave them, a couple easy ones. It should have been a 2-1 game in the third.’

Instead of 2-1, SU trailed the Lakers by a 4-1 margin in the final period. All four Mercyhurst scores resulted from Orange mistakes.

After Syracuse tied the score 1-1 on a goal by sophomore forward Megan Skelly, another turnover deep in the SU zone led to the second Lakers tally.

This time, senior defender Gabrielle Beaudry turned the puck over. Once again, the Lakers worked the puck around before a slap shot by defenseman Cassea Schols found the back of the net.

‘I think it was a matter of mistakes,’ Beaudry said about the loss. ‘But hockey is a game of mistakes. Usually whoever makes the least wins. We have to work on having consistency in our play.’

And against the No. 1 team in the country, those mistakes stood out even more. The Orange played Mercyhurst much closer on Saturday than in the 8-1 debacle that took place Friday night. But the mistakes in the second game proved to be the difference between a major upset and another loss.

In the second period, another turnover by Burns, this time on the offensive end, led to a breakaway for Mercyhurst. Beaudry took a hooking penalty to stop the scoring chance, giving the Lakers an extra man advantage.

Then, senior defender Brittaney Maschmeyer was called for cross-checking about 40 seconds into the penalty kill.

‘I just tried to give a push to one of their players, and they called it for cross-checking,’ the assistant captain said. ‘It’s always rough on a 5-on-3, especially against this team.’

With Syracuse’s two senior defenders in the penalty box, Mercyhurst did not take long to find the back of the net. Lakers forward Jesse Scanzano found a cutting Jess Jones in the middle about 35 seconds into the two-man advantage. Jones buried the one-timer to put Mercyhurst up 3-1.

As the Orange prepared to mount a comeback in the third, another bad penalty gave the Lakers yet another opportunity. And the No. 1 team in the country took advantage of the chance.

Skelly took a blatant slashing penalty as Mercyhurst tried to clear its zone. On the power play, Lakers forward Kelley Steadman carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the SU zone. As she crossed the blue line, sophomore defender Kylie Klassen was not sure if she should cover Steadman or a different Mercyhurst player.

The hesitation was just enough to give Steadman space for a wrist shot from the slot. Schoedel got a piece of the puck, but it trickled through to put the Orange down 4-1.

The fourth goal proved to be the difference as Syracuse battled back within one by the end of the game.

‘We shot ourselves in the foot on a couple of those goals, once again,’ Flanagan said. ‘… I told the team, ‘You know, you’re not going to play perfect, but we’ve got to minimize our mistakes and do a much better job.”

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on January 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm