Syracuse silenced in 1-0 loss to Robert Morris
Despite winning the shot battle, Syracuse fell 1-0 to Robert Morris for its first loss in 13 days. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Heidi Knoll’s been here before.
At home against Mercyhurst on Nov. 21, Syracuse called on her to burst a 2-2 contest open in a shootout. Knoll had no business opening the penalty shuffle for SU. The last time she found the back iron was in Syracuse’s 5-2 loss to Mercyhurst on Mar. 2, which sent it home from the Atlantic Hockey America Semifinals.
With Magdalena Luggin in net, the goaltender Knoll scored on in the prior season, it was déjà vu. The senior deked from the right side and kicked her left leg back, as she glided with the puck. Moving to her left, Knoll twisted her stick around the puck and flipped it over Luggin backhanded. Syracuse would get revenge and gain a conference point.
On Nov. 25, it was a similar story. Knotted at two with then-No.5 Cornell, SU head coach Britni Smith knew who to call. She knew Ava Drabyk would hold down the fort on the other side of the ice. She had 48 saves that day, and in the Orange’s shootout win over the Lakers, the freshman stopped all three attempts.
All SU needed was the offense to reciprocate. Knoll opened the scoring in the shootout, as Syracuse broke a 17-game winless drought against the Big Red.
On Friday, it was a penalty shot. No questions were asked.
“You think penalty shot, you think Heidi Knoll,” Smith said.
She glided down the ice the same way she always did. A juked to her right. A switch to her backhand. Colonials goaltender Maggie Hatch read the Orange’s alternate captain like a book, gloving her shot and emphatically ending SU’s final chance to extend Friday’s game.
As a result, Syracuse (8-11-2, 4-6-1 AHA) fell to Robert Morris (8-12-1, 6-6-1 AHA) 1-0. The Orange had every opportunity to light the lamp, leading the shot battle 36-23. Yet, a feisty Colonials defense, which blocked 22 shots — the third-most they’ve recorded this season and tied for the second-most the Orange have surrendered — made the difference. A Thalia D’Elia goal three seconds into a power play doomed SU for its first loss in 13 days.
The first 150 seconds of the contest would’ve told an erroneous story about SU’s first period. On its first attack, Jordan Blouin weaved around RMU defender Linnea Misner and laced the puck off Hatch’s inner pad. Jackson Kinsler and Sami Gendron had shots blocked in the ensuing minutes. Then, Peyton Armstrong whiffed on a golden opportunity on an open Robert Morris net.
From that point on, shots were sparse on both sides. Halfway through the opening frame, the Orange had only three shots on goal, but that still tripled the Colonials’ lone peg.
Robert Morris has one of the best first-line trios in the AHA with Jessica MacKinnon, Morgan Giannone and Alaina Giampietro. The last time they combined for single-digit shots on goal was against Lindenwood on Nov. 22. SU made an effort early to stymie them, leading to the shot discrepancy.
“Definitely one of our focuses, and likely will be a similar theme tomorrow,” Smith said. “Holding them to zero, but that entire team to one. After some of the recent games, they’ve had some pretty high scoring. I think that shows we did execute a good portion of our game plan.”
The Colonials didn’t have many chances during the opening period, but their best one came just over halfway through. Their power-play unit, which ranks fourth in the AHA, couldn’t get anything past 6-foot Charlotte Hallett, SU’s tallest player, who made two crucial clears.
In the second, Emma Gnade came out with fire. Coming off a hat trick in a 3-0 victory over RPI on Nov. 29, her four shots Friday were tied for the second-most for Syracuse. Her back-to-back shots, along with Rachel Walsh’s bullet would be the last attempts SU had on goal on the power play.
The only player to top Gnade in shots was Blouin, a fellow freshman and linemate, who nearly finagled the puck between her legs and into the cage. The two combined for a quarter of SU’s attempts on goal, anchoring the first-year class.
“Freshmen have done a great job coming in and having big roles immediately,” Smith said. “It’s exciting to see that transition for them and how quickly they were able to impact our program.”
In goal, Drabyk, another freshman, held her own. In the final five minutes of the second period, RMU defender Emma Goding unleashed two shots that Drabyk gloved.
Her perfect night of 18 saves with a clean sheet evaporated just over a minute into the third. A Rylee McLeod hooking call teed the Colonials up on the left faceoff dot. Stella Costabile was dispatched by RMU center Catriona Crarer. The puck trickled to the back-left corner of Robert Morris’ offensive zone, and D’Elia whizzed a one-timer through Drabyk’s five-hole.
SU continued snowballing Hatch, leading the shots-on-goal battle for the period by nine. When Taylor Storey put her stick in her own net, SU had its final chance. A crease violation gave Knoll the chance to tie the game.
She couldn’t capitalize.
Drabyk was pulled for the final two minutes, setting up a 6-on-5. Like the previous 58 minutes, the Orange came up empty. SU was undersized and kept getting stuck in the corners, leading to a Robert Morris shutout victory.
“Really happy with where we’re at. Would be nice to finish the first semester here with a win,” Smith said. “In terms of conference play, there’s still a lot to be had over the second semester. A lot of hockey left, and it’s good to just go into the break with a little bit of momentum.”
