After being blown out 6-2 the night before, Syracuse played a more conservative style in Saturday’s afternoon matchup with Mercyhurst. While the more defensive approach led to a scoreless first period, Mercyhurst scored midway through the second period to break the deadlock and never looked back.

Syracuse (12-18-2, 10-6-2 College Hockey America) was shutout by conference rival Mercyhurst (18-9-5, 12-3-3) 1-0 on Saturday. This weekend, the Orange traveled down to Erie, Pennsylvania to take on the Lakers in a two-game series. After Saturday’s loss,  SU lost the series by a combined score of 7-2 as their offense was unable to put points on the board.

The Orange were outshot 20-7 in the first period of Friday’s loss, a game in which they conceded almost 50 shots on goal and allowed six goals. Instead, of trying to go shot-for-shot with the Lakers, Syracuse limited the amount of shots headed toward Allison Small’s net. At the end of one, Mercyhurst had only nine shots on goal, a stark contrast to the the night before.

That tight defense only lasted for one period as both teams came out shooting in the second period. With both teams chasing a goal the ice opened up, and Lakers forward Emma Nuutinen scored her team-leading 20th goal of the season. After that SU tried and tried to find the game tying goal to no avail. 

With two CHA losses in a row, the Orange have dropped to third in the conference standings after coming into the series tied for second. Wins could’ve put SU in position to steal first place. Now, SU is two points behind of second place Robert Morris, heading into its final two games of the season. Next week’s series with the Colonials will determine which teams receive a first-round bye in the CHA tournament.