No. 3 Colgate Thrashes Syracuse in First Leg of Series
Syracuse Women’s Ice Hockey team was dominated by Colgate 7-1 at the Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, NY. With that lost Syracuse moves to 1-3-2 on the season while Colgate is still undefeated at 6-0. The Orange came into this game riding high off of a big win against Union last Thursday. They knew this game would be a test against one of the best in the nation. Colgate is known as an offensive powerhouse, shutting out RIT 13-0 and scoring over 30 goals combined in their first five games while only allowing 6 between all teams faced.
CHA Goalie of the week Arielle Desmet was in net for the Orange, while Hannah Murphy was in net for Colgate. Just as the game was just getting started when Colgate’s Dara Greig drew first blood after scoping a rebound after a shot was stopped by Desmet. From there the barrage did not end, Colgate put up over 10 shots on the net. They also dominated the penalty bench, getting tagged twice in the period. After the initial goal the Orange looked to rebound putting a few good shots on net to no avail. A trend this season has been the Orange’s inability to covert on the power play. Not scoring when up a player was the only way they would keep this one close. As we see, the inability to convert led this to become a shutout and very quickly. As the period wined down Colgate gave Syracuse a taste of what the next 40 minutes would be when Sammy Smigliani slotted another goal with 15 seconds remaining in the first.
Heading into the second period Colgate came out with the same energy they left. Darcie Lappan went 5-hole, sending the puck under Desmset after receiving a beautiful pass from her teammate. Score now stood 2-0 and it looked as if this would be a long night for the Orange but especially for Desmet. As the period went on you had another goal scored by Lappan 6 minutes into the period. The game stood 3-0 for another few minutes until Syracuse Freshman, Madison Primeau scored her 2nd goal in as many games giving some life to an Orange team that looked outclassed. Sitting 3-1 just as the halfway point approached Smigliani slotted another goal for her second of the night, 4-1.
Syracuse would try to respond by getting two shots off before Colgate made it a 5-1 game after Danielle Serdachny made another even strength goal. Syracuse called timeout and Arielle Desmet night was over after conceding 5 goals to the #3 team in the nation. As play would restart Syracuse would go on the power play as a Colgate player committed a body-checking penalty. During this power play for Syracuse, they would also commit a penalty giving the fans 4v4 hockey. Neither team would score while in 4v4 or when Colgate had the player advantage. As the period came to an end, we saw Serdachny score her second goal for the night, making it 6-1.
This game was all but wrapped up by the start of the third and it showed in play. Syracuse played frustrated, tired and overall, just outmatched by Colgate. This period saw a lot less action in the game, with Colgate scoring once at the 8-minute mark. Syracuse would continue to try and put shots in the net, but they just could not break into the deficit. By the time the final buzzer sounded the final tally was 7-1.
It was absolute drubbing of a game and a prime example of Colgate firing on all cylinders, like they have been all season. Not entirely sure what the Orange can take from a loss like this, but they face Colgate again on Saturday at 4pm at Tennity Ice Arena.