A night after relinquishing a four-goal lead in the final two periods, it was the Orange who rallied in the final-40 minutes to top Lindenwood 3-1 and clinch at least home ice for the first round of the CHA playoffs in the process.
Syracuse, which is now tied for the No. 2 seed with Penn State with two games to play, can now finish no lower than fourth in the league standings. If Syracuse wins the No. 2 seed outright, they’ll have a bye to the semifinals.
The Lions got on the board first in the opening period with just over four minutes left in the frame, when Jordyn Constance picked up her fifth point of the weekend on a feed from Britannia Gillanders.
But that’s all they’d get and Syracuse responded coming out of the locker room for the second.
Melissa Piacentini got the Syracuse scoring started after setting the program goals record the night prior. She was set up by Heather Schwarz and Akane Hosoyamada, with Piacentini burying Hosoyamada’s pass for the equalizer.
The Orange kept it rolling in the third, when Kaillie Goodnough fired a shot of Nicole Hensley’s pads that ricocheted out to Larissa Martyniuk inside the left circle. Marytniuk beat Hensley on the rebound for the eventual game-winning goal. Julie Knerr also recorded an assist on the play.
Emily Costales provided ‘Cuse with some breathing room just over three minutes later when she scored off assists from Piacentini and Grossi.
Jenn Gilligan thwarted Lindenwood’s best scoring chance the rest of the way, when she stonewalled Sarah Bobrowski’s penalty shot in the waning moments of the game.
Gilligan made 22 saves on the day.
Syracuse has just two games remaining in the regular season, in the form of a home-and-home with RIT next weekend. Syracuse hosts the Tigers on Friday at 7 p.m.
