Orange misses out on scoring chances in 2-1 loss to Clarkson
Syracuse was outshot 41-18 by No. 3 Clarkson in its 2-1 loss on Friday. Ziniu Chen | Staff Photographer
Paul Flanagan crossed his arms and shook his head. The Syracuse head coach was frustrated.
With 24.5 seconds left in the game and Syracuse down a goal, Jessica Sibley was called for a checking penalty, fettering any chance the Orange had of a miraculous comeback against No. 3 Clarkson.
Syracuse stayed competitive all night against the superior Golden Knights, but couldn’t come through when it counted.
“Now we need that combination of competing like that and executing,” Flanagan said. “You get a two on one or any type of opportunity, you need to execute.”
Syracuse (1-3) lost to Clarkson 2-1 in front of 234 fans at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday night. On Saturday, the two teams played again in Potsdam, N.Y., with Clarkson (5-0) cruising to a 4-0 victory.
On Friday, the Golden Knights outshot the Orange 41-18. Every time Syracuse got the puck on offense, there was a sea of green and gold Clarkson jerseys there to take it right back.
“You just have to manage the puck,” Flanagan said. “But in fairness to our kids, there’s a lot of pressure on you. There are two players bearing down on you, coming at a pretty high rate of speed.”
Clarkson struck first on a Carly Mercer goal with 1:40 left in the first period. Then she made it 2-0 with more than 16 minutes left in the third.
The best scoring opportunity for Syracuse came with 11 minutes left in the second period and SU down 1-0. Melissa Piacentini drew the attention of the Clarkson defense, leaving Nicole Ferrara wide open to the left of the net. Piacentini fed Ferrara the puck, but the forward’s shot wasn’t well placed and Clarkson goalie Erica Howe made the save look easy.
“It’s definitely frustrating,“ Ferrara said. “Melissa made a really nice pass, and I shot it into the goalie a little bit. I wish I could do it over.”
It was one of several missed opportunities on the night for Syracuse. The Orange scored just once on five power plays, the last of which was a five-on-three.
For the first 40 seconds of that power play, Syracuse was in control of possession and Clarkson was scrambling. Nicole Renault got a shot off and put it past Howe to send the Syracuse faithful into its first frenzy of the night.
“It definitely brought the energy up on the bench,” Renault said. “We saw we could get that goal, and that goal was the one goal difference, we just kept pushing.”
With 1:21 still remaining on the power play, Syracuse couldn’t regain that same poise. Clarkson continued to clear the puck, and the Orange didn’t get another shot off.
“That’s something we have to get better at,” Flanagan said. “A lot of games in our sport are so close, 2-1, 3-2. You’ve got to be able to execute on the power play.”
Flanagan said that while he’s never satisfied after a loss, he thought his team did a good job of sticking with a perennial powerhouse.
“Our competition level, I’m really pleased,” Flanagan said. “Our execution, we’ve got a long way to go. Certainly the girls aren’t sitting in (the locker room) satisfied at all.
“You can look at the shots, but if we executed a little bit better on a couple of occasions, who knows?”
