Senior goaltender Jenesica Drinkwater handled St. Lawrence (9-15-3), earning a 3-0 shutout, her third of the season, for the Orange ice hockey team (15-11-2) on Tuesday night at the Onondaga War Memorial. Classmate Cara Johnson notched her first two goals of the season in the third period, both unassisted, to ensure the SU victory.
Drinkwater made a season-high 37 stops in net, one shy of her personal best. While the Saints were on a three-man advantage when two SU skaters went to the penalty box and an empty net gave SLU an extra skater , Drinkwater made three important saves to prevent St. Lawrence from tying the game.
In total, Drinkwater made 11 stops on the power play and had a 15-save third period which included nearly five minutes of an extra Saint skater.
“Drinkwater has been settling in and playing well,” head coach Paul Flanagan. “It seems like her confidence is through the roof right now. She was really in command, she has recognized that she’s our go-to goalie right now and she has really assumed the role and she’s doing a great job.”
Melissa Piacentini notched a game-winning assist that extended her point streak to nine games, the longest in SU history.
SLU’s offense out-shot Syracuse 72-42 but Drinkwater’s 37 saves and the Orange defense’s 21 blocked attempts stifled the Saints. SU’s conservative offense needed just 20 shots on target to score it’s three goals.
Allie LaCombe notched her fourth game-winning goal of the season 7:07 into the game to give the Orange a 1-0 advantage that it would never lose. Piacentini passed the puck up to Brittney Krebs from the blue line and Krebs wristed it at Giulia Mazzocchi, St. Lawrence’s starting net minder, who made the save but it bounced off her pads to her far side and LaCombe sent it back door off the rebound.
Neither team was able to net a goal throughout the second period. The Saints it 12 shots on net throughout the second stanza while Syracuse managed seven. Jessica Sibley took a hard shot that hit the pipe but bounced up instead of in to keep the score at 1-0.
Johnson’s first goal of the season came 7:18 into the final period when she caught the puck in the air when a SLU defender was attempting to clear it out of its zone. Johnson settled the puck in the slot and wristed it past Mikael Thompson, who relieved Mazzocchi in net mid-way through the second period.
With 1:25 remaining in the game, Johnson scored on an empty net after stripping the puck at the center line and bringing it down for the score.
The Orange travels to Moon Township, Pa. to take on No. 9/8 Robert Morris on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.
