Syracuse battled back in the third period to get within one goal of Mercyhurst, 3-2, with less than two minutes left in the game before the Lakers scored an empty net goal to seal the win in a College Hockey America contest, 4-2, on Saturday at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Junior Sarah Thompson tallied a power play goal and assisted on Syracuse’s (9-22-2 overall, 6-9-1 CHA) second score.
In the first period, Mercyhurst (17-13-2, 9-3-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Megan McKay and Liliane Perrault tallied goals within 60 seconds of each other in the first four minutes of the game. MU’s Sarah Boucher scored the Lakers’ third goal in the last five minutes of the opening stanza for a 3-0 Mercyhurst lead.
“I thought we had a good response after the first period,” said head coach Britni Smith. “Obviously we were not happy about the first, so we talked between periods about having a response, what type of team do we want to be. I thought we did a good job in the second and the third of simplifying our game and getting back to what has made us successful last night. We created offense with pucks into the crease and winning battles. That is where we were able to find our offense. When we keep things simple, things happen.”
In the second period, Thompson cut the lead to 3-1 with less than five minutes remaining on the clock. The Ottawa, Ontario native put away a rebound off of a shot by sophomore Madison Primeau. Junior Kambel Beacom also assisted on the play.
Freshman Rhea Hicks scored Syracuse’s second goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. The Etobicoke, Ontario native fired a rebound into the back of the net to make the score 3-2. Thompson set up the play by deflecting junior Tatum White’s shot in front of the net. Sophomore Sarah Marchand took Thompson’s deflection and sent it across the crease to Hicks for the goal.
The Lakers tallied the empty net goal with 57 seconds left for the 4-2 final score.
Syracuse goaltender Arielle DeSmet recorded 33 saves in the game. She has 839 this season, which is second on the Syracuse single-season record list, and 1,599 in a Syracuse uniform, which is fifth in school history.
Mark Your Calendar
The Orange will host Senior Day when they play Stonehill on Feb. 18 at 2 pm. A group of six skaters will be honored at the game, including, Mae Batherson, Lauren Bellefontaine, DeSmet, Brynn Koocher, Anna Leschyshyn and Marielle McHale. During their Syracuse careers, the Orange won the 2019 and 2022 CHA Tournament Championships, the 2022 CHA regular season championship. All kids in attendance at home games are invited to join the Kids Corner to welcome the Orange onto the ice before each period.
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