Home Sweet Home: Syracuse Spooks Sacred Heart in First Home Game of SU History

Friday, October 31

Syracuse, NY

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Sacred Heart

Syracuse University Chancellor Dr. Nancy Cantor and Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Henry Wildhack, drop the first ceremonial puck with SU captain Julie Rising and SHU's Gina Arnone.

Home Sweet Home: Syracuse Spooks Sacred Heart in First Home Game of SU History

10/31/2008 9:27:09 PM | Ice Hockey

Box Score

Box Score

Season Statistics through October 31, 2008

PHOTO GALLERY FROM HISTORIC FIRST HOME GAME

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – In front of a full-capacity crowd, the Syracuse women's ice hockey team made history in dominating fashion by defeating Sacred Heart, 10-0, in the first home game of SU history. Tennity Ice Pavilion accommodated many program-shattering records as the Orange faithful rocked the stands on Halloween night.

"Well, that was fun, that's for certain. It was a great way to start as the players came out with a lot of energy and you could just see everyone was extremely pleased with the way everyone came out to support this team," head coach Paul Flanagan said. "The fans were awesome and you had pretty much everything you could ask for in a hockey game with some physical play, high scoring and even a couple penalty shots thrown in to get the crowd going. We give all the credit to Sacred Heart for playing us in our first home game and they'll be back to play us tough again tomorrow. We know it's a clean slate and we have to face the same team, but all in all, this was just a fantastic way to christen the arena and get the program off and running here."

Syracuse put together its first winning streak of the season after junior goaltender Lucy Schoedel (Ithaca, N.Y.) earned her second consecutive shutout. SU's goalkeeper denied 19 Pioneers' attempts in Friday night's affair.

"This just feels awesome. It's a perfect start for the home season," Schoedel said. "I was smiling the whole game. It was just an amazing feeling. Everything you could want to happen in this game happened and we are all really thankful for the crowd. It really got our energy going tonight."

After all of the opening ceremonies subsided, Syracuse did not take long to bury its first goal at Tennity. At 5:43 of the first period, newly-added freshman Jessica Frump (Saugus, Calif.) immersed her stick in a scrum in front of the Pioneers' net, came away with the puck and nudged it by SHU netminder Amanda Nagel for the early 1-0 advantage. Sophomore Keeta Koalska (Forest Lake, Minn.) was credited with the assist.

About three minutes elapsed before the Orange tacked on another tally. Senior defenseman Nikki Leone (Trenton, Ontario) was fed the puck from sophomore forward Julie Rising (Millbrae, Calif.) at the top of the slot. Due to a four-on-situation, Leone was able to get off a clear shot. The Quinnipiac transfer wound up and blasted a perfectly placed slapshot in top right portion of the cage at 8:40 for the 2-0 lead.

Freshman Kylie Klassen (Winkler, Manitoba) added another goal at the 11:24 mark of the opening session after redirecting an initial attempt from Rising. Klassen responded quickly on the marker, snaring the puck off the carom and flicked it past Nagel for the 3-0 edge.

At 13:48 of the first, junior blue liner Gabrielle Beaudry (Cortland, N.Y.) was whistled for holding, putting the Orange down a skater, but that didn't stop co-captain Stefanie Marty (Nussbaumen, Switzerland) from breaking up Sacred Heart's powerplay opportunity. Marty pilfered the puck from Sacred Heart and dashed up the left side of the ice for a one-on-one opportunity. Marty deked to her right and tipped in a nifty backhanded shot over Nagel's outstretched glove at 15:02 for Syracuse's first short-handed goal of the season.

Rising, SU's other captain, followed Marty's short-handed goal after knocking the puck through the legs of the Pioneers' netminder immediately following faceoff in Sacred Heart's zone at 17:56.

"It was just great to see all the freshmen contribute tonight and have everyone achieve what they've wanted to achieve from the very beginning," Rising said. "I hope everyone comes back and comes to watch us again. We've got a couple home games coming up here, so hopefully tonight's performance will set the standard."

Freshman forward Janelle Malcolm added SU's sixth marker, her third of the season, at 18:15 of the first stanza to give the Orange a 6-0 advantage heading into the first intermission.

Both teams played to a 0-0 draw in the second period, but the Orange made its offensive presence felt once again in the third period as freshman forward Megan Skelly tacked on SU's second short-handed marker on the evening. Skelly's goal paralleled Marty's man-down tally after hustling down the left side of the neutral zone, cutting across the crease on a double-deke maneuver, finishing off the play by beating Nagel on a sensational effort at 5:22 of the third period.

Rising knocked in her second goal at 6:22 of the third by poking in a loose puck on the near side of a vicious scrum in front of the goal for the 8-0 lead. Rising's marker, coming from Marty's first helper on the night, counted for SU's third and final short-handed goal.

Sophomore forward Rebecca Gordon chipped in for SU's ninth goal with Klassen and Leone setting up the play at 13:25.

As a cap to the ground-breaking event, former Syracuse softball standout Rachel Tilford closed out the Orange attack on a firm wrist shot from about 15 feet out. The previous Orange outfielder sealed the 10-0 count after firing a missile off of Raelene Sydor's mitt. The puck bounced off the glove and hit the top of the cage at 18:45.

The Orange looks to keep the momentum rolling as the same two squads hit the ice at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 1 at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

Game Notes

Flanagan recorded his 232nd career victory…Five players, Frump, Gordon, Klassen, Tilford and Leone achieved their first goals in the Orange sweater …Four players are tied with three goals apiece through eight games: Rising, Marty, Skelly and Malcolm…Marty notched Syracuse's first short-handed goal of the season… Rising attained four points (an SU game-high) with two goals, including a short-handed goal, and two helpers…Rising now leads the Orange with six points through eight games…Schoedel earner her second consecutive shutout against Sacred Heart and has turned away 38 consecutive shots…Koalska earner her first points for Syracuse by way of two assists…Klassen netted her first two-point game with one goal and one assist… Gordon led all skaters on Friday with a +6 plus/minus rating…Freshman Janelle Malcolm took SU's first two penalty shots in program history… The Orange registered six goals in the first period, the most tallies in 20 minutes of play for SU this season…Syracuse attempted 49 shots, the most this season.