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Syracuse had some positives to take away from its loss to No. 6 Cornell on Tuesday night. Despite losing a two-goal lead, the Orange capitalized when given opportunities — particularly on the power play. SU scored two goals while up a skater.

“I thought we had a lot of positives when it comes to our special teams being the highlight of our game,” Syracuse head coach Britni Smith said postgame Tuesday. “We challenged them … so that’s a huge positive.”

Entering this weekend’s two-game set with Penn State, Syracuse placed 11th in the nation in power-play goals and 14th in power-play percentage. In a series in which the Orange looked to pick up some extra conference points over the nation’s ninth-ranked team, they would need their power play to be effective to spark an upset.

However, it was far from efficient. Syracuse (7-19-0, 5-7-0 Atlantic Hockey America) went 0-for-10 on the weekend, punctuated with an 0-for-4 performance in Saturday’s 4-0 loss to No. 9 Penn State (21-4-1, 12-0-0 AHA). Power play struggles contributed to Syracuse’s first scoreless weekend since February 2018.

“You’re not going to score on your power play every game,” Smith said postgame Saturday. “It would have been nice to get one or two, but again, just continue to get back to it, focus on our process. I thought we were better today than yesterday on our power play.”

SU’s first opportunity while up a skater Saturday resulted in a goal, but not for the Orange. PSU’s Tessa Janecke was sent to the penalty box for tripping eight minutes into the first, giving Syracuse an opportunity to pounce on the Nittany Lions early.

Instead, SU gave the puck away near the faceoff dot and let Grace Outwater skate into the offensive zone freely. She had time to pick out a corner and stuck a wrister past Allie Kelley in a one-on-one. Entering the contest, Penn State was tied for the nation’s lead in shorthanders, and its fifth of the season gifted the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead 10 minutes in.

The Orange were given a chance to respond with a special teams goal of their own at the end of the first, though, as Karley Garcia sat for two minutes for interference. SU tallied just two shots on target in Garcia’s absence, and it ended the period down a goal and 0-for-2 on the power play. Still, there were offensive efforts to salvage for Syracuse – it nearly matched Penn State’s shot tally in the first.

“It’s unfortunate to get the goal again for sure, but things like that happen,” Smith said. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

The second period, however, produced little offense for the Orange. An early goal by Janecke put SU in a 2-0 hole, and it couldn’t muster up much of a response all period. Syracuse tallied just three shots on goal across the second 20-minute frame.

Nicole Hall rubbed salt in SU’s wound with a third goal, roofing a wrister into Kelley’s net with less than two minutes until the intermission. The Orange completely stalled offensively in the second and were beginning to let the game get out of hand.

In the third, Syracuse had many chances to get back into it, throwing forward a game-best 13 shots on net. But the opportunities weren’t necessarily coming on SU’s prolific power play. Its first opportunity up a skater was a minute into the period, as Grace Tullock was sent to the box for tripping. Just one shot came from it, a slapshot by Charli Kettyle that was deflected away by Katie DeSa.

A few minutes later, a fourth goal courtesy of Outwater sealed the Orange’s defeat. SU didn’t do itself any favors later on, though, as its fourth power play fizzled out with two minutes remaining. Just one shot on goal came from it.

“We’re going to get more pucks in the crease,” Smith said. “We got to work now on just making sure that we’re taking a decent number of our shots all the way in and finding opportunities to get a better net-shot presence.”

Though Penn State entered the series ranked 28th in the nation on the penalty kill, Syracuse’s inefficiency while up a skater became a key part of its offensive struggles. The Orange tallied just seven shots on goal during power plays Saturday and failed to score on each of their 10 opportunities throughout the weekend.

Still, Smith and her squad remain confident that with progress, the goals will come. Saturday’s power play resulted in more chances than Friday’s, which is seen as a step in the right direction for Smith. Nonetheless, Syracuse will hope to get more from its special teams unit as it tackles its final eight games of conference play.

“We had more opportunities for pucks in the crease, so we’ll just build on that,” Smith said.

Published on January 18, 2025 at 8:05 pm

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