Syracuse wins 2nd-straight in 8-2 blowout over Stonehill
Syracuse completed its series sweep over Stonehill with a 8-2 blowout victory Saturday. It is the first time SU has scored eight goals in a contest since 2022. Lars Jendruschewitz | Senior Staff Photographer
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In each of its first three games this season, Syracuse showed flashes of brilliance against two very different calibers of opponents.
Heavily unfavored to open the campaign, faced with then-No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth, the only positive takeaway in SU’s 4-0 defeat was goalie Ava Drabyk’s debut. Despite falling by the same score in their second matchup, the Orange showed slightly more resistance.
Backed by another solid outing from Drabyk, SU’s new-look faceoff unit showed promise with a 25-for-49 mark, as the Orange held the Bulldogs scoreless until late in the second period.
In its next matchup against Stonehill, SU again showed improvement. Dominating play on the shot clock and in the faceoff circle, Syracuse finally was rewarded with its first win, albeit by a narrow 3-2 margin.
Riding the high of its first win, SU seemed primed to put together its first sound victory of the campaign over a Stonehill team it’s enjoyed consistent success against in the past.
The Orange delivered just that. One step ahead of the opposition from the moment the puck dropped, Syracuse (2-2, 0-0 Atlantic Hockey America) secured its first series sweep of the season with an 8-2 drubbing of Stonehill (0-2, 0-0 New England Women’s Hockey). Emma Gnade, Peyton Armstrong and Jordan Blouin led the way with three points apiece, as 14 total SU players registered points in the one-sided contest.
The first period hasn’t been SU’s friend so far in 2025-26. In two of their first three contests, the Orange allowed the game’s opening goal inside the opening 27 seconds of play. At the same time, Syracuse had only found the back of the net once in the frame all season entering its second matchup with the Skyhawks. That trend was thrown out the window Saturday.
Stonehill goalie Alexsa Caron was peppered with shots almost immediately. Aggressive on the puck, SU’s first line forced the netminder to make three saves within the game’s first five minutes. But her efforts weren’t enough to keep SU at bay for long.
After each logging a point the day before, Kinsler and Costabile needed just 4:54 to return to the scoresheet. Kinsler glided down the left side and fed Costabile a pass over the middle. With nobody pressuring her, the lefty made no mistake from point-blank range to give Syracuse the one-goal edge — its first game-opening goal this year.
Helped by a couple timely saves from Maïka Paquin — her first appearance of the campaign — it didn’t take long for SU’s offense to double its lead at the other end of the ice.
Following back-to-back shots by Blouin from closer range, Rylee McLeod secured the rebound and ripped it home from atop Caron’s crease. Without much defensive support around her, there was little the goaltender could do to deny the chance.
After outshooting the opposition 15-6 in the first, the Orange didn’t show any signs of letting up out of the break. They continued to send rubber Caron’s way, even forcing the Skyhawks into a penalty just three minutes into the frame. After failing to capitalize on the power play for the 15th straight time to start the season, the Orange were gifted a golden opportunity to do so with a brief 5-on-3 chance seven minutes later.
Thanks to Gnade, that long-awaited tally finally came.
After finishing 10-for-16 on draws and scoring the game-winning goal on Friday, Gnade found twine once again with a backhand shot from the left side of the goal. With its power play unit now energized, SU returned to the ice still up a player in a five-on-four situation.
Moving the puck from high to low with ease, it again found a way to capitalize. With some help from Jessica Cheung and Blouin along the blueline, Armstrong lit the lamp with a wrist shot from the right side to give the Orange another power play score.
From there, Syracuse’s five-on-five play carried it the rest of the way — an aspect of its game associate head coach Heather Farrell said the team has been very satisfied with so far.
Without any help from its special teams, Syracuse put the contest all but out of reach. Late in the second, Haley Trudeau and Armstrong added two more goals roughly a minute apart from each other.
Tasking Paquin with only 13 saves through the first 40 minutes, the Skyhawks’ offense showed some semblance of life in the final frame. Stonehill tested her with eight shots on target during the period, scoring on two of them. But even with those tallies and a slice of the game’s momentum back in its favor, it was still staring down a four-goal deficit in a contest that already seemed over. In the final minutes of play, two additional SU tallies assured that.
After failing to score a single goal through two games to open the season, the Orange have notched 11 over their last six periods of hockey. Now, SU will look to maintain this momentum against tougher competition.
