Splitting the defense as she skated into the offensive zone, senior Stephanie Grossi flew toward goal. After the 5-foot-2 forward shifted and maneuvered past a towering Northeastern defender, she crossed the puck over to freshman Victoria Klimek, whose backhanded shot on an open goal fell victim to the pad of junior Northeastern goalie Brittany Bugalski.

In a 5-1 loss to No. 9 Northeastern (3-3-1, 2-0-0 Hockey East), missed opportunities were a common theme for the Orange (1-5-1), as it could not capitalize on a massive shot advantage. After allowing three goals in the first period, SU could not find its form, only finding the net late in the third period.

“We put a lot of good pucks on net,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. “In the second period, of our 13 shots, four of five were grade-A chances. You have to give their goalie a lot of credit.”

Hidden in the loss was Grossi’s return after a three-week absence. While the Orange was unable to capitalize on her comeback, Grossi was able to tally her first points on the year with an assist to Klimek late in the third period.

SU fired more pucks on net, 25 shots to the Huskies 18, yet, Bugalski constantly had the answer, saving 24 and not even allowing a goal until there was under five minutes remaining.

As the lone Orange goal scorer, Klimek understands that the team needs to have more energy and create more chances in tomorrow’s rematch.

“We need to work on hitting the net more and skill rather than just shooting it,” she said. “We have to shoot it as hard as we can every single time. We just have to find the right angles and maybe move the puck quicker to try and beat the goalie.”

SU attempted seven more shots than the Huskies and held the puck in the offensive zone for the majority of the game. Although, an inability to convert was Syracuse’s inevitable doom. The Orange simply needs to do a better job of performing with the puck on their stick, junior Allie Munroe said.

“We just need to execute,” she said. “We had decent effort on some shifts.”

Over the course of the game, the Orange missed out on countless breakaway chances. Even with the return of last year’s leading goal scorer, Grossi, and sophomore forward Savannah Rennie, SU could not find a solution to the Huskies defense. A greater focus in practice, Grossi said, will aid the advantage situations.

One of the main differences Friday was a clear separation in finishing during penalty kill situations. Both teams committed five penalties, but Northeastern was able to turn three SU missteps into goals.

“The mistakes that we made really cost us,” Flanagan said. “You have to get in there and create traffic… and we just didn’t enough of that when we were a man up.”

Published on October 20, 2017 at 11:12 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman