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Surrounded by three Tigers in the neutral zone, Tatum White carried the puck and looked for an open teammate. Glancing to her right, she saw Bryn Saarela as she sprinted down the right side of the ice. With a quick dish of the puck, White hit Saarela for her third breakaway chance of the game. This time, she wouldn’t be denied.

With a wicked wrist shot, she fired the puck below the goalkeeper’s blocker for her second goal of the game, giving the Orange a 3-2 lead — their first of the contest.

“Seeing Tatum work her butt off to get the puck to me and then being able to finish on that one was huge,” Saarela said postgame. “For it to be the goal that gave us the lead, that was fun.”

Despite facing a 2-0 deficit early in the second period, Syracuse (3-9-0, 1-2-0 Atlantic Hockey Association) rattled off four unanswered goals to defeat Rochester Institute of Technology (6-4-3, 1-1-1 AHA) 4-2 in come-from-behind fashion. After being outshot in the opening period 16-5, Syracuse found its form in the final two periods to rally for its first win since Oct. 5.

Coming off a two-week gap in the schedule following a nine-game skid, the Orange started Friday’s contest controlling the pace of play.

Through the opening five minutes, Syracuse often won puck battles in the neutral zone. When the Tigers attempted working the puck through the middle, SU quickly shut down their chances off the rush with well-timed poke checks.

The Orange were eventually rewarded with the game’s first power play chance. Formerly No. 2 in the nation, Syracuse’s player advantage unit recently has been stymied to just one goal in its last seven games. The unit’s struggles continued. Plagued by sloppy and misplaced passes in their own end, the Orange’s power play managed two shots on target.

Despite coming up short on its initial power play, Syracuse still looked in control midway through the first period. Using well-timed poke checks and an aggressive forecheck in the neutral zone, the Orange gave the Tigers’ attack fits early on. But after being held without a shot through nearly 10 minutes, RIT broke the deadlock as Kylie Aquaro scored the game’s first goal amid a net-front scrum.

After it opened the scoring, RIT’s attack continued to grind down Syracuse’s defense for the rest of the period. Given a power play in the final minutes of the frame, the Tigers generated chances by winning key offensive draws and feeding their players at the point to create shots through traffic.

Though, Allie Kelley was up to the task. While her team was outshot 16-5, Kelley’s strong saves allowed Syracuse to escape down just one goal by the end of the period.

After most momentum seemed to be in the Tigers’ favor in the first period, Saarela nearly tied the game for the Orange on her second breakaway chance. Moving from forehand to backhand, she worked the puck around goalie Sarah Coe but was denied. Syracuse tried to build off her chance by passing the puck across the front of the net but struggled to connect on tip-in attempts.

After the Tigers doubled their lead with a goal from behind the net, desperation truly set in for the Orange. While a 10th loss in a row seemed to be on the horizon, all SU needed was one goal to swing the game’s momentum back in its favor. Despite its recent struggles on the player advantage, Syracuse got a goal from its power play unit.

A one-timer blast by Charli Kettyle from the left circle put the Orange on the board, bringing much-needed life to their offense. Now down just one, Syracuse rode the momentum of the tally for the remainder of the second period and continued to chip away in the offensive zone. While it couldn’t muster a goal in the final stretch of the second, SU’s bench was prepared to enter the final frame.

“I just continued to give them confidence (in the intermission),” SU head coach Britni Smith said. “I told them that if we play another 20 like that, we’d be coming back to this locker room happy.”

It didn’t take long for that confidence to show on the scoreboard. Just 43 seconds into the third period, Saarela tied the game off a turnover at the blue line. After cutting off the Tigers break out, she turned around and used the open space in front of her to fire a wrist shot glove side past Coe for her second of the season.

Now tied, the Orange set up shop in the Tigers’ zone by spreading out and feeding their defenders along the blue line. After sustained pressure up to the midway point of the period, Saarela once again came through. Winning the race for the puck, she found herself in open ice on a breakaway and capitalized to put SU ahead by one. The tally marked SU’s first shorthanded goal of the season.

“Offense is definitely not the focus of the penalty kill, but it came off a big block,” Smith said. “Doing the right things and having those habits (on defense) led to a great opportunity.”

Now with its first lead of the night, Syracuse finished the job. Fighting for possession in front of the net, Rylee McLeod jammed the puck home, putting the Orange ahead by two and all but sealing their comeback victory.

A late penalty by Peyton Armstrong almost proved costly for Syracuse in the final minutes, but its defense stood firm in front of the net as its two-goal lead held until time expired.

“There’s definitely no panic in our game,” Smith said. “Whether we’re streaking wins together or not, it’s all about the process and that’s something that we’ve continued to focus on and I think you’re starting to see it.”

Published on November 15, 2024 at 10:58 pm

Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu