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The goalie. It’s widely considered the most difficult and physically-demanding position in hockey. If a puck finds the back of the net, it ultimately falls on the goalie every time — no matter how lackluster the defense in front of them is. It’s an unforgiving job.

Throughout SU’s campaign so far, freshman phenom Ava Drabyk’s somehow made it look easy. With three individual Atlantic Hockey America honors already, her presence in net has allowed the Orange to steal valuable points from Lindenwood, Mercyhurst and even then-No. 5 Cornell. Set to face Robert Morris Friday —- a team SU swept last year — Drabyk looked poised to guide her team to another conference win.

Instead, she and the Orange were given a taste of their own medicine. In Syracuse’s (8-11-2, 4-6-1 Atlantic Hockey America) first clash of the season with Robert Morris (8-12-1, 6-6-1 AHA), it couldn’t solve RMU goalie Maggie Hatch. The redshirt junior stopped all 36 shots she faced to hand SU a 1-0 loss — capped off with a clutch penalty shot save late in the contest. The defeat marked the sixth time Syracuse has been shut out this year.

“(Hatch) did a great job. That penalty shot was a timely save for her. We had a lot of great opportunities, we just weren’t able to capitalize,” SU head coach Britni Smith said postgame.

After scoring within the opening five minutes in each of their last two games against RPI, the Orange took the ice with that same sense of urgency versus the Colonials.

Establishing a strong forecheck, SU gave RMU’s forwards fits early in the contest by taking away time and space in the neutral zone. As a result, the Colonials often found themselves dumping the puck in once they reached the blue line or taking harmless shots from long range. Through the first 10 minutes, RMU managed just one accurate shot.

At the other end, Hatch slowly settled into the game as shots for both sides were few and far between. Facing significant pushback from the Colonials, the Orange also struggled in the shooting department for much of the first frame. It wasn’t until the final minutes before intermission that they finally forced Hatch to be spectacular.

With less than three minutes left in the first, Syracuse peppered the veteran netminder with six unanswered shots on target, with three of them coming in quick succession from Heidi Knoll, Maya D’Arcy and Charlotte Hallett. Hatch turned them all away, bringing her save total up to 12 by the time the break arrived.

With penalty time left over from the previous period, Syracuse’s power-play unit — albeit not the most dangerous in the AHA — continued to chip away at Hatch. But with the help of blocks in front of her, she and the Colonials escaped the pressure unscathed.

As the middle frame progressed, Hatch remained perfect. Faced with shots from all areas of the ice from Syracuse’s forwards and defenders, she stood tall long enough to give her teammates in front of her time to find their footing.

Led by its potent top line of Jessica MacKinnon, Alaina Giampietro and Morgan Giannone, the Colonials slowly took back the game’s momentum and outshot the Orange 13-10 in the period. Less than two minutes into the third, that momentum came to a head on a Thalia D’Elia power-play tally.

“No, I think our game plan stayed fairly consistent,” Smith said regarding if there were any adjustments her team made. “Honestly, I think we were pretty successful with it. We were able to keep them to fewer chances than they’ve seen in previous games.”

Thanks to Hatch’s efforts down the final stretch of the contest, Syracuse’s response never came.

Although SU possessed the puck for most of the last 18 minutes, it never found the finish it desperately needed. More timely saves from Hatch left SU’s players scratching their heads, as the goalie’s confidence only seemed to grow with every pad save or snare of the puck. At the 2:34 mark, Syracuse was given a golden opportunity to tie the game on a penalty shot after a lengthy video review.

Faced with SU’s most prolific one-on-one shooter in Knoll, Hatch remained unfazed. Moving left to right, she denied Knoll’s bid with a sprawling save as the RMU bench let out a cheer of jubilation. Moments later, they jumped over the boards to celebrate again as Hatch secured her third shutout of the year.

“I thought she did a great job with the move she made. If she gets that puck up a little more it probably finds the back of the net, but that’s easy to say when you’re standing on the bench,” Smith said of Knoll’s attempt.

In a conference filled with goaltending talent, Syracuse will need to find a way to make shutout losses like these a thing of the past. Whether it can do so the rest of its campaign may determine its postseason fate.

“You can’t teach goal-scoring overnight, and I think we have it,” Smith said. “Tonight, (we faced) good goaltending and just got a little unlucky with our opportunities.”

Published on December 5, 2025 at 11:25 pm
Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu | @ma77hew_gray