BUFFALO, N.Y. – In a game that came down to the wire, the Syracuse ice hockey team came up just short, 3-2, in overtime to the Mercyhurst Lakers, Friday afternoon at the HarborCenter. This is the fifth CHA Tournament overtime game that the Orange have played in program history.
“As disappointing as the outcome is today, my hat is off to our club,” said head coach Paul Flanagan. “I thought our girls, particiularly our seniros, did a great job. That was a heck of a hockey game, one that is very, very difficult to lose. We’ll hold our heads high and know that we came after them and played hard.”
HOW IT WAS DECIDED
The Orange took control early when freshman Emma Polaski put the puck five-hole on Mercyhurst’s Kennedy Blair to give Syracuse the 1-0 lead. Just over a minute later, Mercyhurst tied the game at one, a score that would hold heading into the first intermission.
Mercyhurst took its first lead of the game five minutes into the second period on a 5-on-3 power play goal by Jennifer Macaskill. While the Lakers took a 2-1 lead into the locker room following the second frame, Syracuse was not done yet and came out electric in the third period.
On the power play to start the third, redshirt sophomore Lindsay Eastwood sniped a blast from the blueline, a shot that was redirected in front of the net by senior Stephanie Grossi to tie the game at two just 30 seconds into the period.
Heading into overtime, it was a back-and-forth affair as the teams traded chance after chance. Ultimately, Mercyhurst picked up a rebound and just beat freshman netminder Edith D’Astous-Moreau to record the 3-2 win with three minutes to go in the first overtime period.
OF NOTE
D’Astous-Moreau made 40 stops between the pipes for the Orange, the most saves by an Orange goalie since Jenn Gilligan tallied 40 in the CHA Semifinal against Penn State on March 4, 2016.
Syracuse now holds a 6-3 overall record when playing the CHA Semifinals and a 2-1 record when the Semifinals are played in Buffalo.
