SYRACUSE, N.Y.—Melissa Piacentini‘s overtime goal pushed the Syracuse ice hockey team past RIT, 5-4 on Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion, redeeming the Orange’s loss last Friday to the Tigers. Piacentini totaled two goals and an assist in her efforts against RIT while freshman forward Jessica Sibley scored three points of her own two goals and an assist.
“Our mindset coming into the game was that we had to push back,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “We had to be a little more physical than we were last Friday and then you have to make plays and I think we did a good job but a couple of missed coverages really cost us in some of those late goals.”
Syracuse controlled the puck throughout the 58 seconds of overtime, preventing the Tigers from getting any shots off. Syracuse attempted four shots in extra minutes, three on target but it was the last that gave the Orange its win over RIT.
SU put 49 shots on target and totaled 78 shots throughout the contest while RIT managed 23 shots at the net and 41 overall. Syracuse went 1-3 on power play opportunities and extended its streak to seven straight games with a man-up goal.
Nicole Renault assisted on the game-winning goal, which increased her point scoring stretch to five games. Piacentini and Sibley both scored two goals to maintain their team-leading totals and Sibley’s three points on the night made her the team-leader in the category. Piacentini is currently on a four-game goal scoring streak and has totaled six points in the last four games.
Jenesica Drinkwater made 19 saves and the SU defense blocked 14 shots to thwart the Tigers’ offense while RIT’s Jetta Rackleff made 44 stops in net.
Piacentini opened scoring 2:52 into the game when she carried the puck up the right side past the blue line and took a wrist shot from the hash mark. The goalie mishandled the routine save and the puck slipped under her stick to put the Orange up 1-0.
RIT was quick to tie the game, however, attacking the net mid-way through the first period and coming up with a score. Erin Zach shot one at Drinkwater, who made the save but Kolbee McCrea was there for the put-back at the far post, tying the game at 1-1 with 10:03 remaining in the first.
With 5:26 remaining in the first stanza, Morgan Scoyne took a shot from the point while on the power play that slipped past Drinkwater’s shoulder and into the goal, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.
The Orange used a man-advantage opportunity of its own late in the second period to delete the RIT lead, bringing the score to 2-2 going into the intermission. Larissa Martyniuk took a shot from the bottom of the right circle, which Akane Hosoyamada attempted to tip in front of the net but the puck got loose and found its way to Jessica Sibley, who sent in the equalizer.
Allie LaCombe added another goal to the SU tally to take the lead 9:19 into the third period. Sibley passed the puck from behind the net to Piacentini in front, who got it to LaCombe with a drop pass. Just under three minutes later Sibley scored the lead-extending goal when she stole the puck from the RIT defense and shot it top shelf to give the Orange a 4-2 advantage.
RIT added two more within three minutes of eachother, however, bringing the score to 4-4 and forcing overtime.
Just 58 seconds into overtime Syracuse found its game-winner when Brittney Krebs slap shot it at the net from the right side, which got caught in traffic and Piacentini slid the puck into the net to put an end to the game.
