Emma Gnade notches hat trick, Syracuse shuts out RPI 3-0
Syracuse completed a series sweep over RPI with a 3-0 win Saturday. The Orange were powered by Emma Gnade's hat trick, pushing her to seven goals on the year. Eli Schwartz | Staff Photographer
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
In Syracuse’s home-and-home series against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last season, it crumbled.
At Tennity Ice Pavilion on Oct. 11, 2024, the Orange were cruising through the first 43 minutes, riding an advantage set early by Jackson Kinsler that held strong until the opening moments of the third period. But two power-play goals were all the Engineers needed to reassert themselves and claim a 2-1 victory.
The following day, they duked it out at Houston Field House. Yet, the result was the same. A late SU effort, despite former goaltender Allie Kelley being pulled, was capped off by a Peyton Armstrong equalizer for her first collegiate goal. Still, former RPI defender Sophie Helgeson’s overtime strike doomed Syracuse in its second straight 2-1 defeat.
Two losses with identical scores at two locations weren’t a coincidence. But this year, the Orange looked different. On Friday, they took command. Stella Costabile lit the lamp first, Nea Tervonen notched the game winner and Charlotte Hallett put the finishing touches on an empty RPI net for a 3-1 win.
It was a different, disciplined SU, which only recorded two penalties. In Syracuse’s home loss last campaign, the Engineers converted two of their four woman-up advantages, changing the outcome of the contest.
Back at Houston Field House, it remained to be seen whether the Orange could parallel their Friday performance.
Behind a hat trick from Emma Gnade, Syracuse (8-10-2, 4-5-1 Atlantic Hockey America) did, dispatching RPI (4-15-0, 1-7-0 Eastern Collegiate Athletic) 3-0. SU dominated the attack, leading 28-17 in shots on goal. Goalie Ava Drabyk also earned her second-career shutout en route to victory.
SU plays its best hockey when it starts hot, and it did so Saturday, winning two of the game’s first three faceoffs. After Gnade conquered Alexis Brunet on the third tie-up, she gave RPI netminder Reese Keating her first test, which she saved.
But when a puck trickled in front of the blue line, Jessica Cheung was there. She rifled it off Keating’s stick, but it deflected to her left — where she wasn’t covering any ground. Gnade was sitting there. Off a one-touch backhand, she flipped it over Keating to enter the scoring column.
The Engineers remained firm, recording four of the contest’s next five shots, with the first two being cleaned up by Drabyk. An ensuing power play gave Syracuse a chance to double its lead, but two pegs from Tervonen and Kinsler were futile. A last-second effort from Heidi Knoll landed on goal, but it was covered by Keating as the advantage expired.
On Drabyk’s side of the ice, Georgia Bailey delivered one of her two shots on goal of the day, flipping it over SU’s defense. But Drabyk was ready.
In the second period, though, RPI’s seven first-period shots dwindled to three. Drabyk was left alone, while the Orange continued their feisty attack.
Syracuse peppered Keating with eight shots, but none went in. SU looked to showcase its early offense for a consecutive frame. Just over two minutes in, following a Jordan Blouin wristshot that missed wide of the left post, Maya D’Arcy retrieved the puck just in front of the blue line, lacing it off Keating’s stick and ricocheting to the right.
The Orange’s best pressure of the game came a minute later, with three shots, none of which landed on goal, in 12 seconds. Then, Knoll had a breakaway opportunity following the ensuing faceoff, which she botched wide.
While the Engineers couldn’t get anything going on offense, they were feisty defensively. Kendal Davidson decked Costabile in part of an array of Rensselaer hits.
RPI’s best chance of the period was just under halfway through, when Bailey clanked a shot off the post. Drabyk recovered and stopped Davidson a minute later.
It was an uncharacteristically clean period on both sides, though that likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome. Syracuse has only scored seven times on the advantage, while RPI has done so five times — both in the bottom half nationally. Before Saturday, SU’s power play had struggled, with the second-worst conversion rate in the AHA, and its penalty-kill success was the worst in the conference.
Both teams only had two penalties Saturday, where nothing happened. It was instead on even strength where the Orange separated late.
The third period, once again, saw immediate pressure on SU’s five-on-five attack. Within the first minute, Tervonen was gliding down the ice, but Keating, who made 25 saves, stymied SU’s captain with her toe. Sami Gendron even had a chance, but Davidson used her body to block it.
On the other end, despite recording 17 saves, her second-lowest mark of the season, Drabyk had her best moments in the third period. Michaela Littlewood nearly changed the outcome of the game while shorthanded, but Drabyk remained calm.
Gnade picked up where she left off in the first period. Off a tee from Blouin, she finagled the puck around three RPI skaters for her second of the day and the first multi-goal game of her young career.
And following a Rensselaer timeout, it pulled Keating, and Gnade was left alone with the puck on a breakaway. She found the back iron for a hat trick, recording her sixth and seventh goals of the season in the final frame, punishing RPI, already the worst team in the ECAC. Meanwhile, the Orange notched back-to-back victories for the first time in over a month.
