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Entering Friday’s matchup with Robert Morris, Syracuse’s offense knew it was outplayed by then-No. 5 Colgate in its last series. Being outscored 10-2 and outshot 80-45 across the two contests was a tough lesson for a young team trying to find its identity.

But as SU head coach Britni Smith spoke to her team ahead of its battle against Robert Morris, there was no frustration in her voice while she stressed the importance of putting pucks toward the net. As the Raiders had displayed the previous weekend, good things can happen when pucks are thrown toward the goal.

“Shot volume is certainly important and shot selection is certainly important, too,” Smith said postgame. “Not so much putting pucks to the net for the sake of putting pucks to the net.”

Her reminder helped Syracuse (6-12-0, 4-3-0 Atlantic Hockey America) return to the win column with a 4-1 victory over Robert Morris (5-11-1, 0-6-1 AHA). From the moment the puck dropped, the Orange’s offense showed an initiative they lacked in their defeats against Colgate. By continuously putting pucks toward the net, SU outshot RMU by 17 while recording an overwhelming 63 shot attempts in the contest.

While the series loss to the Raiders stung, it seemed like a distant memory to the Orange in the first period against RMU. SU’s offense wasted no time finding its footing in the opening few minutes of the game.

Through continuous dump-ins and puck battle wins along the boards, the Orange began to generate shots on Colonials’ goaltender Maggie Hatch early on. Just 2:52 into the period, their swarm of chances eventually struck pay dirt.

As Tatum White led the charge into the offensive zone, she carried the puck into the left corner behind the goal line. Keeping her feet moving, she turned around to survey her options in front of the net.

Seeing no passing options available and a screen of four players in front of the net, White quickly spun and speculatively flung the puck into traffic toward the goal.

Watching her shot sail toward the target, all White could do was hope for a little puck luck. She got her wish, as the seeing-eye shot beat Hatch to make it 1-0 Orange.

After the Colonials evened things midway through the opening period, SU again leaned on its powerplay to restore its one-goal advantage. While the unit managed mostly tough angle shots from the corners behind the net, it used these chances to create rebounds in front of the net that spelled chaos for the Colonials’ defense.

On one such opportunity, Bryn Saarela found herself with time and space in the right corner behind the goal line. Instead of forcing a pass in front of the net, she wisely held onto the puck and fired it between the goalie and the right post. Her shoot-first mentality paid off, as the puck trickled in to give SU a 2-1 lead.

“Testing the goalie is a big part of any game. Making her bobble pucks and getting pucks to the cage is gonna make her at some point let them in, so I think just continuing to pepper her was helpful,” Saarela said.

After a gritty, physical second period that saw three combined penalties between both teams, Syracuse preserved its slim lead. Though SU continued to pressure the Colonials, it only managed eight shots on target.

While its defense continued to hold the line by throwing checks against the Colonials’ top scorers, Syracuse’s offense generated chances at the other end of the rink by firing pucks toward the cage and crashing the net in search of rebounds.

On one such chance near the end of the period, the Orange nearly cashed in.

After a sacrificial block by Maya D’Arcy, she pushed the puck into the neutral zone to Nea Tervonen as she moved up ice. Now on a two-on-one, Tervonen fired a wrist shot to the center of the goalie’s right pad in hopes of creating a rebound for her teammate, but Match found the puck first and froze it.

With the added insurance of Saarela’s second goal to start the third period, Syracuse’s attack played more freely in the game’s final stretch. But the Orange’s offense didn’t let up, consistently rattling off shots until the final whistle. By the end of regulation, Syracuse totaled 38 shots on target, its most since its season-opening win over Stonehill.

“I thought what we did well tonight is get pucks to the net when we had a net-front presence,” Smith said. “We were creating second and third chance opportunities off of our rebounds, which definitely helped in terms of putting more shots on net.”

Published on December 6, 2024 at 10:47 pm

Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu