Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

When Syracuse fans think of Colgate, memories of victory usually come to mind, especially in the realm of college basketball. Swap out the basketball court for the ice rink, and the narrative suddenly becomes a lot less appealing to the Orange faithful.

Following Friday’s 3-1 loss on home ice, SU had fallen in its last 14 meetings against Colgate and had been outscored 24-1 in its last three meetings. Syracuse looked to flip the script Saturday with its first win in Hamilton, New York, in over a decade.

But Syracuse (5-12-0, 3-3-0 Atlantic Hockey America) couldn’t match the pace of No. 5 Colgate’s (16-4-0, 7-1-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) potent offensive attack, falling 7-1. Syracuse came out flat in the first period, managing just seven shots on goal while leaving goalie Allie Kelley out to dry against Colgate’s attack. The netminder was peppered with a barrage of shots in the opening period, four of which found the back of the net, handing the Orange their worst loss of the season.

After holding the nation’s second-best offense to just three goals in game one, Syracuse’s defense appeared to rest on its laurels in the first period of play, which turned out to be a costly mistake. Just 56 seconds into play, the Raiders used their aggressive forecheck to open the scoring.

A sloppy turnover along the boards by SU defender Sami Gendron gave Colgate possession and allowed it to cycle the puck from low to high in the offensive zone. As Syracuse’s defenders were caught scrambling in their own end, Ella Belfry collected the biscuit in the left corner and dished it to an unmarked Kristýna Kaltounková. With space, she fired the puck at point-blank range past Kelley to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

For the next 13 minutes, similar to the day before, Colgate’s pressure kept the Orange deep in their own end, forcing them to rely on Kelley’s composure in the crease to keep the deficit at one. At the same time, the Raiders had adjusted their game plan to focus on neutralizing Syracuse’s forecheck, which has been the catalyst of their attack all season. This made it especially tough for the Orange to challenge Colgate goalie Farah Walker in the first period.

Eventually, Syracuse’s offense woke up and rattled off a few chances from inside the slot area, forcing moments of chaos for the Raiders in front of their net. But just as Syracuse’s attack began to show signs of life, Colgate silenced it with another tally. In her 100th game as a Raider, Sara Stewart used a nifty move to split two SU defenders and beat Kelley on the blocker side, bringing Colgate’s advantage up to 2-0.

Just over a minute later, Kaltounková scored her second of the game off a rebound, which was followed up by a tough-angle goal by Neena Brick to make it 4-0 Colgate. The last time the Orange allowed four goals in a first period before Saturday was on Dec. 5, 2023 — ironically, also against Colgate.

In the second period, Syracuse seemed to finally settle into the contest. While the Raiders had used set plays to build their lead in the opening frame, the Orange made noticeable adjustments in the defensive zone that paid off in the middle frame. Instead of chasing after the puck, SU’s defenders remained patient in their own end and anticipated Colgate’s passes, resulting in turnovers that sparked its offense. These adjustments culminated in Syracuse’s first goal.

Reading Stewart’s errant pass through the middle of the ice, Bryn Saarela stole the puck and took it herself into the Raiders zone. With a quick flick of the wrist, she sent a laser over Walker’s shoulder to bring the Orange within three.

From there, however, things went downhill for SU down the stretch.

Minutes after Saarela’s tally, Haley Trudeau was given a five-minute major penalty for an illegal check to the head. Just over three minutes into the penalty, the nation’s top power play restored Colgate’s four-goal advantage off a tic-tac-toe goal by Emma Pais.

Syracuse had shown improvement in the middle frame, challenging the Raiders with 10 shots on net and winning nearly half of the duels in the faceoff dot. But by the final period, it seemed the Orange had run out of gas as the Raiders refused to ease up on their attack, even while ahead 5-1.

Following the Raiders’ sixth goal, Kaltounková, who entered the series against SU as the nation’s third-highest scorer, followed up the tally with a bardown snipe to complete her hat-trick late in the period, sealing an ugly 7-1 final.

While Saturday’s game may have seemed like just another one-sided chapter of Colgate and Syracuse’s on-ice rivalry, it also showed how much room the Orange’s new core of young talent has to grow if they want to compete with the best teams in Division I hockey.

Published on November 30, 2024 at 8:54 pm

Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu