The Orange used four power play goals to defeat Union, 5-2 on Saturday afternoon to improve to a 4-4-0 record on the season. Jenesica Drinkwater started in net and is now a perfect 2-0-0 in her two appearances so far this year.
“I give Union a ton of credit, they were well prepared and we always have good games against them,” Head coach Paul Flanagan said. “They’re a well-coached team and they come at you hard and if it weren’t for our power play unit today it would probably be a different story here. Our power play unit bailed us out and I thought [senior goalie] Jenesica Drinkwater made some key saves at key junctures of the game.”
For just the second time this season, SU outshot its opponent, putting 32 shots on net to Union’s 24, the most shots SU has attempted on target so far this year. Drinkwater made 22 saves in the contest including 10 in the second period.
The Orange went 4-5 on the power play and did not allow Union to score on any of its four power play opportunities. Syracuse has not allowed a power play goal since they played at No. 3 Clarkson, killing 26 penalties along the way.
Senior captain Margot Scharfe and sophomore Nicole Renault each had three points against the Dutchwomen, with Sharfe scoring two goals and an assist and Renault notching three assists.
Syracuse took a 1-0 lead 6:17 minutes into the first period when Scharfe tipped in a slap shot from Renault at the top of the right circle. Caitlin Roach started the play on the left side, passing to Renault and earning herself her third assist of the season.
Roach tallied a goal of her own in the middle of the second period, the first power-play score of the game. Jessica Sibley took a shot on net and scooped up her own rebound, deciding to pass it right to roach who slapped it past Shenae Lundberg to take a 2-0 lead with 10:14 left in the second.
Union would answer 3:39 minutes later off a shot from leading goal scorer Christine Valente. Valente scooped up a rebound from Alli Devin’s shot and netted it to cut the SU lead to one goal.
Sharfe tipped in her second goal of the game later in the second period, which would be the eventual game-winner. Kaillie Goodnough slapped one hard at the net from the top of the right circle and Scharfe got her stick on it to make the score 3-1 with 1:27 left in the second.
Nicole Ferrara scored her second goal of the season with five seconds remaining in the second half to go into the second intermission with a 4-1 lead. Akane Hosoyamada flipped a pass from Larissa Martyniuk toward the net and Ferrara was there to finish the job, shooting it past the goalie and gaining a three-goal advantage.
Union scored one last time at the 7:24 mark in the third period when Jessica Kaminsky intercepted a pass and brought it past the center line, passing to Valenti, who gave it back to Kaminsky at the crease and sent it in to cut the Orange lead to two scores.
Syracuse would re-gain its three-goal advantage however, when Melissa Piacentini scored her first goal of the year. Renault wound up and took a shot from the top of the left circle and Margot Scharfe tipped it to Piacentini, who redirected it into the goal.
The Orange start conference play next weekend at Penn State on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m.
