Syracuse defender Jessica DiGirolamo skated down the right side of the ice toward the goal, stick-handling the puck from side to side. She deked, trying to slide the puck between the legs of Northeastern goalkeeper Brittany Bugalski. But Bugalski turned her away, sending the Orange’s penalty attempt skittering away from the goal.

For the second consecutive game, SU failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities. The team had improved its communication and effort from Friday’s loss, shouting “dig, dig, dig,” on defense, players flailing their bodies to try and block shots and freshman forward Ronnie Callahan slamming mask-first into the boards in a fight for the puck several times. The result, however, was all too familiar for the Orange (1-6-1), which on Saturday afternoon in Tennity Ice Pavilion fell to the No. 9 Huskies (4-3-1, 2-0 Hockey East) by a score of 5-1.

“I think the passion part of it was there,” said SU head coach Paul Flanagan. “It was just difficult in the execution part of it.”

The Orange attempted 24 shots and converted on only one of them for a goal. In the third period, SU was awarded a penalty shot and failed to take advantage. The lone score came in the first period by freshman forward Victoria Klimek, who was in a perfect position as a rebound fell onto her stick and she split the legs of Bugalski.

The team now has a 13-day layoff to figure out what it will do to improve upon the worst start in recent memory.

“I think we need to make smarter moves and stop trying to force things that aren’t there,” said Klimek. “We need to get to the puck for rebounds and take hard shots.”

Capitalizing on scoring opportunities has been a major struggle for the Orange up to this point in the season. The team generates opportunities, taking a total of 49 shots in the last two games, but the Orange has only converted that into two goals. Taking advantage of such critical scoring opportunities is vital to the Orange’s success for the remainder of the season. Increasing the number of shots on net is “key,” said Orange defender Megan Quinn, and that driving the net “is huge.”

“I think we need to simplify things,” Flanagan said. “Get back to the basics, simplify it, it is the little basic principles.”

Published on October 21, 2017 at 5:35 pm

Contact Anthony: amkhelil@syr.edu