Women's ice hockey: Orange skates to tie with Northeastern

Alysha Burriss' first career goal the lone tally for SU.

Despite a strong first period, Syracuse (1-1-1) couldn’t put away a physical and relentless Northeastern (0-0-1) team. Alysha Burriss scored the first goal of her SU career, but U.S. Olympian Kendall Coyne scored the equalizer to help the Huskies escape with a 1-1 draw.

“You gotta put a team away,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. “You’re up 1-0 and you’re dominating them. They can’t get off the ice and it’s a long change, but you know… two or three times we had good bids. We put it into somebody, so that’s an area we need to do better.”

The Orange started on the constant attack and spent much of the first period in the Northeastern zone. SU had 11 shots in the first period, compared to Northeastern’s four, and five shots blocked by the Huskies defense. At the 16th minute, freshman forward Emily Costales skated past two defenders before leaving the puck right in front of the net for Burriss, who sent it past Chloe Desjardins to give the Orange a 1-0 lead.

The momentum shifted in the second period. Led by Coyne, Northeastern was able to knot the score. The goal came right after an Orange power play. While SU was trying to get its defender back into the game, Coyne released a shot that seemed to deflect off another player before finding the back of the net.

Despite the fast pace that continued into the third period and then overtime, neither team could capitalize. Each team had a power play in the third but didn’t score due to stellar play by both defenses and goalies. SU’s Jenn Gilligan, despite giving up the one goal, had 28 saves, while Desjardins held her own with 22.

Said Flanagan: “Just the fact that we are now cranking it up in all three zones and recognizing the little plays … to me as a coach, that’s a real good sign.”

The Orange will face New Hampshire on Oct. 11th at 3 p.m. at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

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