The Lindenwood women’s hockey team split a two game series with the Syracuse University Orange this past weekend. Lindenwood dropped the first game 2-1, and won the second 4-1.
In the first game of the series, the Lions and the Orange came out of the gate deadlocked in defensive battle. Both teams were held scoreless in the opening 20 minutes of the game, with the Lions only putting together five shots on goal the entirety of the period. As for the Orange, they didn’t find too much more offensive success either, only putting together nine shots for the period, with all being saved by goalie Anna LaRose.
In the second period, the game remained locked into a defensive controlled game, with both teams being held off the board until the final 19 seconds. That’s when Peyton Armstrong found the back or the net on an unassisted goal for Syracuse, making the score 1-0. Lindenwood was able to put more shots towards the net in the period with 17, and kept Syracuse at bay defensively, only allowing seven total shots. LaRose stopped six of the seven, aside from the goal scored by Armstrong.
In the final period of the opening game, the Lions defense kept the Syracuse lead to just a goal for the first eight minutes of play. It was then that the Orange struck again, as Charli Kettyle scored to make the game 2-0. Her teammates Bryn Saarela and Jackson Kinsler were credited with the assist in the goal. Four minutes later, the Lions would sound the buzzer for their lone goal of the game, scored by Zsofia Pazmandi and assisted by both Molly Henderson and Tatem Starlight-Yellowfly. It was Pazmandi’s second goal of the season. The Lions put up their most shots on goal of the game in the final period with 31, and held Syracuse to just five.
For the entirety of the game, LaRose made 20 saves in 22 tries. Lindenwood was able to put up 53 shots on goal, scoring just once.
In the second game of the series, the Lions multiple shots on goals finally translated to goals scored, putting up four. Despite the offensive onslaught, it was Syracuse who struck first in the game, in the opening two minutes. The lone Orange goal of the game was again scored by Saarela, assisted by Kinsler and Sami Gendron.
However, the rest of the period was dominated by the Lions, putting up three total goals. Five minutes after the opening goal of the game by Syracuse, Morgan Neitzke scored unassisted to tie the game at one apiece. It was her sixth goal of the season. Six minutes later, Maegan Cronan scored a goal to give Lindenwood a 2-1 lead, with an assist from teammate Sidney Jackel. For Cronan, it was her second goal of the year. The final Lindenwood goal of the period was credited to Olivia Grabianowski as the game neared the 17th minute of play. Pazmandi and Quinn McLaren were credited with assists. For Grabianowski, it was her second goal of the season thus far. Lindenwood put together 15 shots on goal in the period, with Syracuse having 11 and LaRosa saving all but one.
Both teams were held scoreless in the second period, with the puck spending most of the period in the Lions goal zone. The Orange put together 13 shots on goal in the period, with Lindenwood nearly matching that with 11 of their own.
The final period of the second game saw the fewest combined shots on goal of the weekend, with 18. Both teams had nine, but Lindenwood was able to sneak through the net and score on one of their few attempts. In the games final second, Pazmandi scored for the second time this weekend, and third this season, to make the game 4-1. The final goal was assisted by Molly Henderson.
The final game saw Syracuse take 33 total shots on goal, with Lindenwood taking just a few more at 35. LaRose saved all but one in the win.
The series split moves the team to an overall record of 3-12-1, with a 2-4 record both at the Centene Community Ice Center, and in conference play.
The team now heads to Rochester, New York to play a two game series against Rochester Institute of Technology. They will return home in the new year to face the Minnesota State University, Mankato on Jan 3. and Jan. 4 at 4 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.
