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Entering the third period in Friday night’s contest, Syracuse found itself trailing 3-1. In a nightmare second period for the Orange, they went 0-for-3 on the power play, were outshot 18-7 and outscored 3-0.

Despite one of Syracuse’s worst periods of the season, it came storming back. The Orange cut the deficit to one with a goal from freshman Nea Tervonen five minutes into the third. For the next 15 minutes, the goal was simple — find the back of the net at any cost.

The Orange did just that. With the goalie pulled and just a minute to play, Kambel Beacom tied the game at three sending the game to overtime. But Syracuse was caught on a bad shift-change and Thalia D’Eliah made the Orange pay, scoring the overtime game-winner as SU (5-20-2 overall, 2-10-1 College Hockey America) lost 4-3 in overtime to Robert Morris (10-15, 6-7 CHA).

Syracuse started the game on a high note. After tight play throughout the first period, Rayla Clemons committed a high-sticking penalty 16:47 into the game. As SU was a player down, it found a way to jump ahead.

With RMU setting up in its offensive zone, a misguided pass from behind the net missed its mark and bounced into the neutral zone. Anticipating a change of possession, Darci Johal broke towards the neutral zone, creating an immediate breakaway. Johal went right to left, beating Colonials’ goalie Maggie Hatch with a strong backhand, giving the Orange their only lead of the game.

Entering the second period, a familiar tale unfolded — Syracuse struggled. Its power play unit that had entered Friday’s game ranked third in the CHA came up empty on all three opportunities in the middle period.

“We really couldn’t get much going…” Syracuse head coach Britni Smith said postgame. “I think it really just comes down to us getting away from what made us successful.”

While SU couldn’t find the back of the net on its player advantage opportunities, RMU found success in similar scenarios. A minute and 48 seconds after the Colonials killed off a SU 5-on-3 opportunity, it got their own offense going. Jersey Phillips dropped the puck to Catriona Crarer. She slapped the puck past Allie Kelley, tying the game at 1-1.

The onslaught continued throughout the middle frame. Nine seconds after killing off another Syracuse power play, Shailynn Snow broke SU’s defensive line. One-on-one with Kelley, Snow went five-hole on SU’s goalie to give the Colonials their first lead 31 minutes into the contest.

As if the period couldn’t get any worse for Syracuse, with just over a minute remaining in the frame Jocelyn Fiala was called for an interference penalty. RMU’s power play unit quickly got to work and tallied the team’s third goal of the period 16 seconds before the buzzer sounded.

The Orange lost the period 3-0, setting up a two-goal deficit with just 20 minutes play.

“We really just have to be better,” Senior Kambel Beacom said. “The second period has been tough for us all season and it’s kind of been a roadblock for us.”

SU came out energized in the final period. The team had lost its first two games of the season against RMU on Nov. 3 and 4, falling just short losing 3-2 and 4-2.

Six minutes into the third, Syracuse got some good fortune to cut the lead to one. Tervonen relocated to the top of the offensive zone as the puck went into the left corner, but it was soon swung back to her. Tervonen attempted a shot, but her follow through was obstructed, putting the puck on ice but at a much slower rate than expected.

Hatch couldn’t see the puck through a scrum in front of the net and it went untouched past her, giving Syracuse its second goal of the game. All of a sudden, after an abysmal second period SU trailed by just one goal with just under 15 minutes remaining.

“I think we’ve said this, we’ve had that all year. We have the ability to believe and come back in the third,” Smith said.

In the third period, Syracuse outshot RMU 26-20 and won the faceoff battle 14-9. And as time dwindled down, Smith called for Kelley to come to the bench with 1:55 remaining, setting up a 6-on-5 advantage.

The Orange settled in and began to set up threatening scoring chances. Beacom took a wrist shot from the top of the point but it was pushed to the side by Hatch. Entering Friday’s game, Beacom had not scored a goal through her first 96 games of her SU career.

Tervonen collected the puck and then circled behind the net swinging the puck back out.

Tatum White took a rip at the net, but Hatch stood tall yet again, making the save, but not collecting the rebound. The rebound went out to the left and RMU’S Kaitlyn Schooley attempted a clearance along the boards. Beacom skated to the puck and took a one-timer towards the net.

The shot beat Hatch, giving Beacom her first goal of her career and tying the score at 3 with just 60 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We’ve worked on six on five a lot in practice,” Beacom said. “So it was pretty big to execute on that. And my parents were in the stands. So that was a pretty special feeling.”

After trailing 3-1 entering the period, Syracuse worked its way back. Heading into a 3-on-3 overtime, the Orange had the opportunity to close out a comeback win.

Halfway through overtime, Kate Holmes found Sarah Thompson on a 2-on-1 opportunity, but they couldn’t get past Hatch. Less than a minute later Johal had a breakaway opportunity that Hatch deflected up into the netting.

As the five minute extra period winded down to just 90 seconds, Syracuse put out the line of Tervonen, Kailey Langefels and Maya D’Arcy with the game on the line. The trio threatened in the offensive zone, but couldn’t get anything past Hatch.

RMU broke out of the zone and worked its way forward while the Orange were gasping for air. With fresh legs on the ice, RMU refreshed the puck into the neutral zone, looking for its strongest push yet. At the same time, D’Arcy and Tervonen wrongfully looked to get off the ice, leaving Langefels suddenly alone on a 3-on-1.

The Colonials made the Orange quickly pay for the mistake. Crarer dropped the puck to D’Eliah where she easily beat Kelley, winning the game for the Colonials and handing Syracuse its 10th CHA loss.

Published on January 26, 2024 at 11:11 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky