Syracuse Women’s Ice Hockey upsets No. 4 Penn State 5-4 in Overtime thriller

By Ben Anderson 

    The Syracuse Orange Women’s Ice Hockey team pulled off a major upset to the young season under first year head coach Brian Idalski, upsetting No. 4 Penn State 5-4 in overtime at Tennity Ice Skating Stadium Friday night.

First Period 
SYRACUSE SHOWS EARLY MOMENTUM

    The first period saw high flying action between the Orange and the fourth ranked Nittany Lions. 
The Orange entered aiming for its first win in eleven tries against the Nittany Lions.

    Penn State had an early power play. SU’s Stella Costabile was called for tripping, allowing for the 2-minute opportunity for Penn State.

    The Orange defense held up though, holding the Nittany Lions to just 1 shot on goal during the power-play. 

    Minutes later, SU fired the exclamation point with senior Jackson Kinsler scoring her fifth goal of the season off a cross from Emma Gnade at the 11:27 mark to give the Orange a 1-0 lead. 

    Three minutes later, SU looked to extend the lead, with a great shot at the top of the attacking zone by

    Celina Wiegand, but was thwarted with a great save by Morgan Stickney.

    At the end of the first period, the Orange led 1-0. However, Penn State held the advantage on the offensive end, having a 10-4 advantage on shots on goal. 

Second Period
GOAL FRENZY

    In the second period, Penn State turned up the electricity, firing on all cylinders against the Orange, outshooting SU 20-3 on shots on goal. 

    The Orange however, struck first, extending its 1-0 lead with Jordan Blouin scoring her second goal of the season on a rebound with 6:57 remaining in the period to extend the Orange lead to 2-0.
Penn State answered back in quick succession, scoring two goals 4 minutes apart. 

    Freshman Kylie Amelkovich scored on a deflection near the top of the point at the 14:25 mark. Mikah Keller added on off a saucer feed at the 18:06 mark. 

    Penn State dominated the offensive end of the ice, despite the Orange never giving the Nittany Lions any open looks and double teaming whenever possible. 

    Penalties were a problem for both teams in the period. Penn State’s Danica Maynard received two minutes in the box for holding, just for the Orange shortly afterwards negating the power play by committing a penalty of their own with Rachel Walsh being called for a high stick. 

3rd period
PENN STATE EQUALIZES AND FORCES OVERTIME

    After the strong 2nd period by the Nittany Lions, the Orange struck back with two goals to take a 4-2 lead.

    Captain Nea Tervonen found the back of the net 4 minutes into the period. The Orange capitalized again just two minutes later on a power play with senior Jocelyn Fiala scoring her first of two goals.

    “It was a really nice pass from Jordan (Blouin),” Fiala said. “She saw me and I just ripped it, put it on net, and things happened.”

    The Nittany Lions clawed back into the contest by taking advantage of their own power play with 

    Maynard scoring her first goal of the night just three minutes later to cut the deficit to 4-3.

    With the last three minutes of the contest dwindling, Penn State junior Nicole Hall came up clutch, sending a fireball into the net to tie the game at 4 and force overtime in the 315.

Overtime

    With five extra minutes to determine a winner, Syracuse did not hesitate to put the attack on Penn State. Two minutes into the period, Fiala scored the game-winning goal to give the Orange their first win over a ranked opponent since 2013, and send the Syracuse faithful home happy with a thrilling victory. 

    “It kind of opened for me,” Fiala said. “The defender set a pretty good screen, and I just put it on net.”
Head coach Brian Idalski said that Penn State was not at their full potential. 

    “They’re missing two kids with Hockey Canada,” Idalski said. “That’s not their complete team. So if we’re doing that in March, that’s something different then doing that in October. So we’ve got a long way to go.”

    Now with its first ranked win in over a decade under their belt, the Orange know that Penn State will be ready to put the pressure on in game two tomorrow afternoon. 

    “They’re going to come out and they’re going to want to bury us so they can be satisfied,” Idalski said. “We got to be able to come back and play with the same intensity, play with the same speed for two days in a row.”

    With the victory, the Orange improve to 3-1 (1-1-0) while the Nittany Lions fall to 2-3 (2-1).

    Game two is set for tomorrow at 3 p.m. 

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