Despite win over Guelph, Syracuse works to improve heading into regular season
Nicole Ferrara was positioned by the goal when her teammate Larissa Martyniuk unleashed a shot to the net. It was quickly deflected, right to the waiting Ferrera, who smoothly chipped it in.
It wasn’t pretty, but as was the case for the Syracuse offense all night in its exhibition game, it was just enough to get the job done.
“It was definitely sloppy,” Ferrara said. “It was the first game of the season. You just have to get used to playing with each other. We’ll get better as the season goes along.”
Her shot put Syracuse up 3-1 against University of Guelph, a score that would hold until the final buzzer at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday night. The game was an exhibition, but it was a tough one, as Guelph entered the game having won its past 16 contests.
Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan acknowledged that beating the Canadian team was impressive and that the Gryphons provided a difficult task for the Syracuse attack.
“You can see it’s a game where I think both teams got tired,” Flanagan said. “The puck was bouncing, a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone. We’ve just got to manage the puck better. It’s pretty basic, and nothing we can’t handle in the next few practices.”
Flanagan made sure all of his players received minutes. This included the team’s eight freshmen. He noted that he went as deep as to play the fourth line in the win, and said that some of the freshmen impressed him more than others.
One freshman that stood out was Elizabeth Scala, the first of the newcomers to get on the board. The Rhode Island native scored on a breakaway goal midway through the second period, and her tally proved to be the game winner.
“I was kind of nervous at first, you know, with it being my first game,” Scala said. “But I just tried to take my opportunity and the chance that I got.”
Scala’s goal was a brief reprieve for an offense that couldn’t get comfortable on the ice all night. Even Scala acknowledged that the team wasn’t in mid-season form.
“We were just kind of running around a little bit,” Scala said, “but that’s expected in the beginning of the year and we’ve been working hard so hopefully that will help.”
The hard work will need to continue as Syracuse enters its regular season in Boston on Friday against Northeastern. Flanagan had every player suit up against Guelph, something he said he might be opposed to going forward in the hopes that the offense runs more steadily.
Flanagan admitted that his team, which finished its best-ever season at 20-15-1 last year, doesn’t have that “wow” factor, and that winning night in and night out will be a full-team effort.
“We’re a team that has to be a blue-collar team,” Flanagan said. “We don’t have any superstars out there. I think we have a lot of parity amongst our lineup. We’re going to have to play hard, and real smart in terms of our decision making.”
