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Following Syracuse’s season-opening 4-0 win against Stonehill on Oct. 4, Syracuse captain Tatum White was asked what her team’s goals were ahead of her final season with the program. Her response echoed SU head coach Britni Smith’s answer to the same question.

“(We want to) focus on the process, the little things and working together as one unit,” White said. “Every game will be different, and we will work through them one at a time.”

But while Smith’s team has fully bought into her process, the group has consistently hit a snag when the calendar rolls over to January. Since Smith took over as head coach ahead of the 2022-23 season, the Orange hold a 4-15-1 record in the first month of the year. Still searching for its first victory of 2025, Syracuse welcomed No. 6 Cornell to the Tennity Ice Pavilion Tuesday in hopes of escaping its January rut.

But in its final nonconference game of the season, Syracuse (7-17-0, 5-5-0 Atlantic Hockey America) found itself on the losing end against Cornell (12-4-3, 8-2-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference) for the 16th consecutive time. Despite being outshot 14-4 in the first period, the Orange scored two power-play goals and found themselves ahead 2-0 by the first intermission. For the remainder of the game, though, the Big Red imposed their will by scoring six of the next seven goals to steal a 6-3 victory from the Orange.

Tempers flared from the opening faceoff, as less than two minutes into play, SU’s Heidi Knoll delivered a high hit that put the Orange on an early penalty kill. Cornell — which boasted the No. 12-ranked power play unit in the nation entering Tuesday — smelled blood in the water. But Syracuse’s shorthanded unit held firm, forming a tight box around its net to force the Big Red away from goalie Allie Kelley’s crease.

While its first power-play attempt had been held in check by the Orange, Cornell continued to win one-on-one battles down low behind SU’s net. This allowed the Big Red to move the puck either to their forwards in front of the crease or to their defenders along the blue line, who were waiting to fire a shot on target. But Syracuse’s forwards and defenders alike showed zero hesitation blocking shots.

“I think we’re a more competitive team in those games (against highly-ranked opponents) this year. We’re a team that’s really bought into the way we need to play,” Smith said.

Despite killing off Cornell’s potent player-advantage unit, the Orange still struggled to produce offensively early in the game. It took almost nine minutes into the first period for SU’s attack to test Cornell goalie Jeanne Lortie for the first time. Following SU’s first shot on target, a pair of minor penalties against the Big Red sent the Orange to one of their first five-on-three power play chances of the season.

With plenty of ice to work with, SU showed an aggressive attack by placing four players down low around the net and only one up high waiting at the blue line. Finding herself unmarked in the left corner, Bryn Saarela received the puck from Sami Gendron and roofed it past Lortie, giving the Orange their first lead over the Big Red since Jan. 29, 2019.

“I don’t know if we’ve had many, if any, five-on-threes this season,” Smith said postgame. “But they (SU’s attackers) practice it and are very prepared, so they are aware of what to do in those situations.”

For the majority of the period, Syracuse’s defenders continued to frustrate the Big Red’s attack with sneaky poke checks and shot blocks along the boards, leading to Cornell’s third penalty of the contest. It took 17 seconds for Syracuse’s player-advantage unit to find the back of the net once again, courtesy of Jackson Kinsler. The Orange now held a commanding 2-0 edge going into the intermission.

Looking to shift the momentum of the game, the Big Red made a goaltending change to begin the middle frame. After allowing two goals on just four shots in the opening period, Lortie was swapped out as Annelies Bergmann was sent between the pipes for the rest of the contest.

It turned out the adjustment was exactly what Cornell needed.

The Big Red completely flipped the script in the middle frame. Less than five minutes in, Cornell forward Gabbie Rud tipped the puck past Kelley off a cross-crease pass from Avi Adam to cut the deficit to one. Just 30 seconds later, Cornell gifted the Orange a chance to restore their two-goal cushion by taking its fourth penalty, but SU failed to capitalize as Bergmann turned aside the three shots that came her way in the two-minute window.

Fueled by their first successful penalty kill, the Big Red went back on the power play with a revitalized attack. Back-to-back blocks by Syracuse defenders Jessica Cheung and Mik Todd helped hold off Cornell’s high-danger chances, but it seemed to only delay the inevitable. After her first shot was blocked away by Kelley, Big Red forward Karel Prefontaine collected her own rebound and picked the corner to knot the game at 2-2.

While Kelley’s 17 saves had kept the Big Red from taking the lead in the second period, Cornell’s surge in the period completely turned the tide of the contest. With a 23-9 shot-on-goal advantage and a 29-18 edge in the faceoff dot through two periods, the No. 6 team in the country showed its pedigree.

Now in full control of the game, the Big Red picked up right where they left off to begin the third period. Just over three minutes into the frame, Cornell’s Lindzi Avar pushed home a loose puck atop Kelley’s crease for its second power play tally of the night. Over the next seven minutes, the Big Red’s attack continued to swarm, as Delaney Fleming and Grace Dwyer each scored to increase their advantage to 5-2.

Trailing by three with just over a minute left in regulation, SU’s Jocelyn Fiala whipped a shot past Bergmann from the top of the right-wing circle to bring the Orange within two again. But following Syracuse’s timeout, the Big Red iced the game with an empty net goal to further extend SU’s January blues.

“We’re not gonna outscore those type of teams, we’re not gonna beat them 5-4 and we need to play gritty defensive-style games,” Smith said. “Yeah, we play a tough out-of-conference schedule, but I think that only prepares us once it comes playoff time.”

Published on January 14, 2025 at 10:22 pm

Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu