Orange Edged by Nittany Lions

Friday, January 24

Syracuse, NY

7 PM

Syracuse University

7-16-1, 6-4-1CHA

Penn State

10-9-6, 5-3-3CHA

Penn State

Syracuse

1/24/2020 9:40:00 PM | Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A late third period tally for visiting Penn State (10-9-6, 5-3-3 CHA) broke the tie and lifted the Nittany Lions over Syracuse (7-16-1, 6-4-1 CHA), 1-0, on Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion. The teams played 54:56 of scoreless hockey before Brooke Madsen tapped a puck past Orange netminder Allison Small from the top of the crease for her seventh goal of the season. Syracuse held the advantage in shots, 27-22, in the contest.

"They're a hardworking team," said head coach Paul Flanagan following the defeat. "They're pretty motivated to come out and work hard and they did. They did a good job from start to finish, but I think we had a lot of really good chances, [Penn State goalie Chantal Burke] made some really good saves. She's given up two goals in three games, that's pretty good goaltending."

"I thought Allison had to make the toughest saves in the first period," Flanagan continued. "We had a lot of possession in their end but they had three grade-A chances and I thought she (Small) made some really good saves. So I think it was punch-for-punch as far as the goalies were concerned. Both teams played hard. You can almost say that at the 10-minute mark of the third that it was basically overtime and it was going to be whoever gets a bounce or a break."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams went back-and-forth in a heavy defensive battle for the first two frames, each side generating opportunities and getting big saves from their goaltenders. The Orange enjoyed possession of the puck for the majority of the first period, but had no answer for Burke.

Syracuse brought the same energy in the middle period, hitting the post twice in the first five minutes, but the scoring struggles continued and Orange opportunities went by the wayside.

With five minutes remaining in regulation and the Nittany Lions pressuring in the offensive zone, Madsen backhanded a pass to the point to defender Kate Rydland. Her shot from the blue line into traffic deflected off of Natalie Heising and back onto the stick of Madsen who smacked it into the back of Small's empty cage to break the deadlock.

'Cuse got a chance on the powerplay to tie the game but did not convert. With just under two minutes to play, Small skated to the bench for the extra skater, but Penn State was able to clear the zone and hold on for the victory. In 33 meetings between the programs, it was only the second Nittany Lion victory.

Both teams finished the tilt 0-for-2 with the man-advantage. Small recorded 21 saves for the Orange and Burke posted 22 on the other side of the ice.

UP NEXT
These two teams meet again tomorrow for the series finale at Tennity Ice Pavilion at 3 p.m. As always, admission and parking for the game are both free, and the game can be seen live via Cuse.tv.

For complete coverage of Syracuse ice hockey, follow us on Facebook (Syracuse Women's Ice Hockey), Twitter (@CuseIce) and Instagram (@CuseIce).