SU Escapes With 2-1 Win Vs. St. Cloud

Friday, September 30

Minneapolis, MN

5 p.m.

Syracuse University

1-0-0, 0-0-0CHA

St. Cloud State

0-1-0, 0-0-0WCHA

Syracuse

St. Cloud State

Lisa Mullan scored her fourth career game-winning goal on Friday for the Orange

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

9/30/2011 8:01:00 PM | Ice Hockey

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The Syracuse ice hockey team scored two goals in the first period en route to a 2-1 season-opening victory against St. Cloud State at the East/West Showcase on Friday night. Sadie St. Germain and Lisa Mullan scored goals for the Orange (1-0-0), while Jenesica Drinkwater made 32 stops. SU returns to the ice tomorrow night to faceoff with No. 4 Minnesota at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).

"It's great to get a win on the first night," head coach Paul Flanagan said. "A lot of good things happened in all three zones that we can build on. We also recognize that there is a lot of work to do. St. Cloud came at us hard in the third period, and we played with a lot of resiliency, particularly in the closing minutes."

The Huskies (0-1-0) outshot SU 33-21 for the game and was 0-for-5 on the power play. The Orange went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.

Syracuse took a 1-0 lead with 3:03 left in the first period when St. Germain scored her third career goal when she buried a rebound off of a Kaillie Goodnough shot from the point. Allie LaCombe was also credited with an assist on the play.

Less than two minutes later, the Orange took a two-goal lead when Mullan picked up her first goal of the year following a shot from Shiann Darkangelo. Darkangelo's shot was initially saved by Husky goaltender Tayler VanDenakker, sending the puck into the air. Mullan gloved down the loose puck and snuck it over the goal line. The score was originally waved off by the officials, but after further review the call was reversed to give SU a 2-0 lead.

The score remained 2-0 until late in the second period when St. Cloud cut the Syracuse edge in half on Haylea Schmid's first goal of the year. Alex Nelson fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Drinkwater, but Schmid was right there waiting on the doorstep to pound the loose puck into the net.

The Huskies peppered Drinkwater and the Orange defense throughout the third period, outshooting SU 10-3, but Drinkwater stood her ground to turn away each Husky bid.