It was the closing minutes of the second period, and RIT was on the power-play as Syracuse held a 2-0 lead. The Tigers passed the puck around the ice probing for an opening, hoping to score a goal and go into the break down just one goal. As the puck made its way to the point, a Syracuse stick knocked the puck back out of the zone and slowly trickled towards the RIT net.

With no one around, Lauren Bellefontaine outpaced her defender down the ice, giving her a one on one chance with the goalie. As she approached full speed, Bellefontaine deked right, saw an opening and tried to slide the puck in. In a flash, RIT’s Terra Lanteigne stuck her toe out and stopped what could’ve been a game-ender. Most of SU’s bench was on their feet expecting a goal, only to be robbed of a celebration.

“She got the last toe on that one,” Bellefontaine said shaking her head. “I almost had her but she’s really, really good.”

Even without a Bellefontaine breakaway finish, Syracuse (10-16-1, 8-4-1 College Hockey America) defeated RIT (9-16-2, 2-11) 3-1. The Orange recorded 59 shots on goal, but Lanteigne had an answer for almost all of them. In a game in which SU set a new season-high in shots and doubled the Tigers in shots on goal, the scoreline could’ve and likely should’ve been more.

“I definitely think we should have had more goals,” Bellefontaine said. “We had a lot of chances we just need to capitalize on them.”

The Orange had 86 total shot attempts, and their 59 shots on target were five short of the school record they set back in 2016. And they needed every one of them to score on RIT’s Lanteigne, the reigning CHA Player of the Year. Lanteigne held SU to an 0-for-3 performance on the power play, which included a five-minute major.

Scoring only three goals on almost 60 shots on goal resulted in the Orange having a 5% shooting percentage, almost half of their average shooting percentage on the season. Bellefontaine wasn’t just stuffed on that chance. She had multiple great chances including what looked to be an empty net when she batted a puck on net. Instead, Lanteigne flashed across the net and stopped the shot and the two follow up chance Bellefontaine had.  

“If I would’ve shot higher it would’ve went in,” Bellefontaine said. “But I kept just jamming it right at her pad and her pad happened to be there. So I just gotta focus on shooting high.”

Shooting high ended up being the difference as both Brynn Koocher and Savannah Rennie’s goals hit the crossbar and bounced in. On most of the other shots, Lanteigne had a clear view of the puck as it was shot and routinely made saves without giving up the rebound.

“I just feel like we need to be better at taking her eyes away,” defender Jessica DiGirolamo said. “She saw most of the shots. That’s why she was able to make those saves.”

Flanagan even noted that from the bench he could see that Lanteigne would cheat to a side to get a clear view of the puck. It’s a potential weakness the Orange noticed but did not take advantage of. DiGirolamo and the rest of SU’s defense spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, controlling possession. Even when they would get a good screen on Lanteigne, SU’s shots would get blocked by the defense before they reached the net, DiGirolamo said.

 “I think we should have buried more,” DiGirolamo said. “There were rebounds there and we just need to capitalize on those.”

The missed opportunities came very close to coming back to bite the Orange as RIT wasn’t fully out of the game until the final whistle. Rennie scored her goal with three minutes left, but just one minute later RIT scored a goal and the momentum shifted. With six attackers on the ice, RIT got a goal back and looked to potentially get another goal or two to tie the game.

“They had a couple chances late to make it three two and then it’s oh my gosh, panic city.” Flanagan said.

In a game in which SU outshot RIT by a large margin, the outcome of the game could’ve gone either way. With the CHA tournament coming up in less than a month, the Orange need to be more clinical in front of the net or risk losing to the better teams in the CHA and failing to defend their conference title.

Published on February 8, 2020 at 12:01 am

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu