Game Details: January 21st (2 pm) at Centene Community Ice Center
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Freshman forward Rhéa Hicks scored a pair of goals and the Orange offense exploded for three in the third period to beat Lindenwood, 4-1, on Friday night in St. Charles, Mo. Hicks scored the first goal of the game and then tallied one of three Syracuse scores in the third frame. Senior Mae Batherson and junior Tatum White also scored goals in the win. The Orange and Lions will play the series finale on Saturday, Jan. 21 (2 pm). The game will be streamed on FloHockey.com.
“Shot volume has been a focus for us during the past few weeks and tonight we were able to get pucks on net with 37 shots, and we did a good job defensively holding them to 23 shots,” said head coach Britni Smith. “We also wanted to get back to our special teams being a spark for us and we scored on the power play. We got better each period which was good to see. We have a quick turnaround for the game tomorrow so recovery will be key because we have to be ready to go at puck drop.”
Hicks put the Orange (7-15-1 overall, 4-3 College Hockey America) on the scoreboard first when she took a feed between the circles from classmate Mik Todd and one-timed it past Lindenwood goalie Natalie Ferenc just more than two minutes into the game. Graduate student Lauren Bellefontaine set up the scoring play by winning a battle for the puck in the corner and feeding Todd. The assist is Bellefontaine’s 98th career point (34 goals, 64 assists), which ranks fourth on the Orange career scoring record list. She is second on Syracuse’s career assists record list, eight behind leader Stephanie Grossi (72 assists from 2014-18).
Lindenwood’s (2-21, 2-7) Morgan Neitzke tied the game with less than two minutes remaining in the first period and then neither team scored in the second stanza.
In the third period, Batherson scored the game-winning goal less than five minutes into the last period on an Orange power play. She took a pass from White at the blue line, carried the puck toward the net and fired the shot on goal for her second goal of the season and 12th of her career.
With seven minutes to go Hicks gave the Orange a two-goal lead when she stole the puck in the Lindenwood defensive zone and took it to the goal for her fourth goal of the season and first multi-point game of her career. Less than two minutes later White made it a three-goal lead when she took a pass from junior Rayla Clemons and scored her fifth goal of the year. Batherson set up the goal when she corralled the puck in the Orange defensive zone and sent it up the ice.
Syracuse goaltender Arielle DeSmet recorded 22 saves, including the 2,000th of her collegiate career. She ranks 14th on the CHA all-time saves record list with 2,021 in 80 games. Junior defenseman Hannah Johnson blocked four shots, increasing her season total to a team-best 46. Her 114 career blocks ranks 11th in Syracuse history.
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