SYRACUSE, N.Y.—The Syracuse ice hockey team dominated the third period but couldn’t make up for a two-point deficit and fell to No. 10 Mercyhurst, 3-2 on Fridaynight at Tennity Ice Pavilion. The Orange outshot the Lakers 16-6 in the final 20 minutes and scored a goal to cut the MU lead.
“Our story of the night was putting ourselves behind the eight ball early and giving them a lot of confidence and then we ran out of time,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “They owned the wall, they did a really good job and we didn’t respond.”
Melissa Piacentini extended her goal streak to seven games, the longest in program history and the second-longest points streak of any SU player. She has scored nine goals in that span.
Mercyhurst edged SU in shots on target 38-35 but the Orange fended off all four of the Lakers’ power play opportunities and converted on one of its four.
Jenesica Drinkwater made a season-high 35 saves while Amanda Makela made 33 stops.
Mercyhurst struck first when Molly Byrne sent one wide of the net that Hanna Bale collected and skated it around the net, catching Drinkwater off the left post to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead with 2:17 left in the first period.
Piacentini tied it up off a rebounded shot from Allie LaCombe to tie it up at the beginning of the second stanza but Mercyhurst scored two within four minutes to take a 3-1 lead going into the second intermission.
Larissa Martyniuk got a slap shot from the point to slip through defenders and into the goal to come within one goal with less than four minutes remaining but a penalty on LaCombe negated SU’s offensive chances and the Orange suffered its second loss to the Lakers this season.
Syracuse rematches Mercyhurst tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. in Tennity Ice Pavilion.
