Syracuse’s goaltenders can’t handle No. 3 Penn State in 7-0 battering
SU goaltenders Ava Drabyk and Bella Gould had no answers for Penn State’s explosive offense in its 7-0 defeat in Game 1 of the AHA Semifinals Friday. Peter Radosh | Asst. Copy Editor
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Three and a half months ago feels like yesterday for Ava Drabyk. As she embarked on the shameful skate to the visiting bench Friday at Pegula Ice Arena, it was nothing new. In fact, it was the third time she’d made the in-game trip this season.
A 7-0 thrashing on Nov. 14, 2025, was the first pin to drop in a series of No. 3 Penn State dominations. Grace Outwater extended PSU’s lead to six halfway through the third period, ending the freshman’s day. When Maïka Paquin was substituted in, she conceded within three minutes.
Drabyk lasted just a period the next day.
A quartet of first-period Nittany Lions goals terminated her abysmal outing, in which she stopped under 80% of their shots. Things didn’t get better with Paquin between the pipes, falling to a 71% clip in the 11-2 defeat.
Drabyk gave up four goals through almost two periods and was ejected after a five-minute major penalty Friday. Bella Gould replaced Drabyk and conceded three times in the third period of No. 5 seed Syracuse’s (15-17-4, 10-11-3 Atlantic Hockey America) 7-0 disaster against No. 1 seed Penn State (30-5, 22-2 AHA) in Game 1 of the AHA Quarterfinals.
The discrepancy between Drabyk and Co. and other goalies in the country isn’t large. The freshman entered Friday with the most saves in AHA with 877 and a top-3 goals against average with 2.31.
Rather, the issue is that the Nittany Lions have an unstoppable offense. SU’s goaltenders just happen to be the ones with the thankless — and Friday, fruitless — task of stopping it.
Fresh off an Olympic gold medal, Tessa Janecke scored a hat trick, marking the ninth straight game she’s accrued a point. She’s second in AHA in goals per game and first in assists per game. Fellow Olympians Matilde Fantin and Abby Stonehouse also tacked on a tally.
But Drabyk set a new precedent in the squads’ January series. The Orange held the Nittany Lions to the same number of goals across two games as they scored Friday, and the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native was the reason for it, stopping 70 of 76 shots. At the time, PSU’s 3-2 win on Jan. 17 tied its lowest goal total in AHA play.
With new expectations, it was up to Drabyk to combat Penn State, and she couldn’t. Her offense didn’t do any favors, getting blanked and recording under 20 shots. Nor did Syracuse’s defense, which blocked 13 shots, four less than it had in its AHA Quarterfinals victory over No. 4 seed RIT.
Thirteen and a half minutes into the game, Drabyk was cruising, stopping the first nine Nittany Lions shots. But when Stonehouse caressed the puck behind the Orange’s cage and flicked it to Janecke, Drabyk was helpless. She whiffed at the puck as it glided along the crease for the senior to pelt in.
SU’s offense didn’t give Drabyk time to breathe, and it couldn’t stop the bleeding. Sami Gendron and Peyton Armstrong miscommunicated a pass, which Fantin intercepted. Racing down the right flank, she lifted a deep missile past Drabyk on her right — a shot she’s accustomed to saving.
There was no goal more telling of the mismatch than the third tally. Mya Vaslet executed a perfect backhand-forehand exchange, weaving to Drabyk’s right for a finish.
A Janecke breakaway goal with under three minutes left in the second period nearly sealed the deal on Drabyk’s disastrous day. A minute before, she made one of her best saves of the game on Taylor Lum. Suddenly, she was cut adrift, conceding her fourth.
Even during the disappointing outing, there didn’t seem to be a world where Britni Smith could have pulled the heart and soul of her squad. But with just over a minute left in the frame, she had to.
As Maddy Christian crashed the goal, Drabyk inched out of her crease, bobbing the PSU forward in the head. After long discussions between the referees and linesmen, the verdict was a five-minute major for roughing, disqualifying the freshman.
As she departed for the visiting tunnel, Gould entered, and she was in for an even more rude awakening.
She couldn’t track anyone. The Orange opted for a zone defense over man on a penalty kill, running risks of unmarked players. Gould didn’t feel Janecke breathing down her neck, and when she received a pass in the crease, the gold medalist had no difficulties in securing a hat trick.
Gould was subject to yet another back-door cut when an Olympic connection between Fantin and Hall struck. Stonehouse spun Gould around with a flashy toe drag to secure PSU its seventh tally.
Had Drabyk not flashed her potential in SU’s third and fourth meetings with PSU this year, her performance would have been justified.
But because she was the best player on the ice in each contest, there is little excuse for her showing other than the fact Penn State is just too technically sound on offense. And there was nothing Gould could do to save her.
