Syracuse Wins First Two vs Lindenwood
Things have been looking up for the Syracuse Women’s Ice Hockey team. After starting the season 1-7-1, the Orange swept the past two games against RIT, outscoring them 5-1.
Syracuse continued this with a 4-1 victory against the winless Lindenwood Lions, on the back of Madison Primeau first career hat trick.
The first period got off to a hot start, as both teams played with fire and aggression early on. The tides began to turn after a Lindenwood penalty by Teagan Heaslip, Hannah Johnson of the Orange scored nearly five minutes into the game.
After that, the Orange would have multiple penalties, with Sara Thompson and Maya D’Arcy coming within two minutes of each other. Lindenwood would not be able to capitalize, as Syracuse goalie Arielle Desmet would make multiple clutch saves to keep the opposition scoreless.
Things took another turn towards the end of the first period, as Madison Primeau would get a penalty for elbowing. Lindenwood’s Sarah Davies would have a penalty of their own seconds later, leading to a four-on-four situation.
After Primeau’s penalty was up, she made the second power play goal of the game with 28 seconds left in game to give the Orange a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
The second period picked up where the first period started, until Primeau picked up her second penalty of the game for cross checking. The defense held Lindenwood scoreless in the ensuing powerplay, but seconds later Kaitlin Finnegan got the Lions on the board to trail by one.
The next ten minutes would become tense as both teams were at a stalemate. Lindenwood defense kept them in the game, but Syracuse picked up the pace and began overwhelming Lindenwood goalie Natalie Ferenc.
The stalemate ended with four minutes left in the period, as Primeau scored her second goal of the game to bring the lead for Syracuse to 3-1. This would be the score by the end of the second period.
The third period would also start off fast past, with Lindenwood coming out aggressive to try and get back into the game. However, Primeau would score her third goal of the game, completing her first career hat trick to put the Orange up 4-1, and they would go on to win by that score.
This marks Syracuse’s third straight victory, their longest win streak since winning five straight games between January 2nd and 29th of last year. Desmet had twenty-eight saves in the victory, bringing her career total to 1,749 as she chases the all-time saves record currently head by Kallie Billadeau, who had 2,161 saves between 2010 and 2014.
The win also marks the 39th victory for Syracuse in the lifetime series against Lindenwood, and tenth straight home victory.
The Orange will be back in action tomorrow afternoon, as they look to sweep the home set against Lindenwood. Game starts at 3pm at the Tennity Ice Pavilion.