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As RIT’s Addie Alvarez crossed the blue line, she spotted teammate Kylie Aquaro. After a backhand pass to the junior, Alvarez raced across the area behind the net, and tried to beat Syracuse goalie Allie Kelley to the right post.

But instead, freshman Haley Trudeau was there, and stuck her stick in front of Alvarez’s to stuff the shot with just over five minutes to go in the third.

The save from Trudeau was one of 16 shots blocked for Syracuse against RIT on Saturday afternoon. The Orange only scored a single goal until the Tigers went to an empty-net late in the third. But a strong defensive effort pushed Syracuse (7-22-3, 4-12-2 College Hockey America) past RIT (13-6-2, 7-11 CHA) 3-0 at Upstate Medical University Arena Saturday afternoon.

While the offense for Syracuse was quiet for nearly the first 40 minutes, the SU defense did its job. Throughout the contest, blocked shots and trapping on the boards guided its defense to one of its best games of the season.

Syracuse came into Saturday’s matchup just a day removed from a season high in blocked shots. In a 1-0 loss to RIT on Friday, SU stopped 24 attempts before they got to goalkeeper Kelley.

The momentum carried on to Saturday, where SU put up a more modest, but still impressive, 16 blocked shots.

“We just talked about part of their game is shot volume and they block a lot of shots,” Syracuse head coach Britni Smith said postgame. “So let’s try to be better in the two areas that are their strengths. So our goal every every period was to out block them.”

SU worked well towards its task in the first period. While most of Syracuse’s operations looked sloppy in the first 20 minutes, the same could not be said of blocked shots. They outblocked RIT 8-2 in the first frame. Leading the effort was defender Rachel Teslak with three.

Though the Syracuse defense only had two blocks in the second period, the defense was now set-up. And when Syracuse’s Charlotte Hallett scored the go-ahead goal with less than thirty seconds to go in the frame, the Orange had 20 minutes to keep the puck out of the net.

With 10:22 left in the third, Addie Carr got the puck at the top of the offensive zone. She tried to rifle a shot past Kelley, but the puck didn’t get near SU’s goalie. Instead, Hallett, who was standing a few feet in front of Carr, got a clean block on the puck.

“I think just obviously getting in the lane helps our goalie out,” Teslak said. “(Kelley) had an amazing game. She stood on her head for us. So I think anything we can do to help her out is obviously what we try and do every night.”

While Syracuse’s defense starred, it still did allow 33 shots on goal. That’s where Kelley came to play. In her 100th career NCAA game, the grad student saved every shot she faced.

With just over 16 minutes left in the second, Kelley slid across the crease to block a late flying puck. And then with under nine minutes left in the game, a shot from Alvarez on the right side seemed to be heading to the back of the net, until Kelley stuck up her glove at the last second to make the save.

“I’m confident Every time (Kelley is) in the net,” Hallett said after the win. “She makes beautiful saves for us.”

To help Kelley out in net, the Syracuse defense attempted to force some more outside shots. This started with trapping RIT players to the boards when they got into the offensive zone.

With 7:03 left in the first period, Kylie Aguaro got the puck on the left boards. Teslak immediately closed out on the forward and forced an awkward pass behind the net to Bailey Kehl. When Kehl got the pass, SU’s Tatum White did the same and trapped the defender against the boards, forcing the puck to a Syracuse stick. When RIT soon got the puck back, it rushed a shot and the possession ended with a Teslak block.

“There were times which we were hemmed in and they were moving pucks pretty well but we kind of were able to accomplish the same on their end… (We) try to keep them outside,” Smith said.

Traps like these helped the Syracuse defense throughout the day. WIth just over 17 minutes left in the second, Jocelyn Fiala helped double-team a RIT player on the board and eventually forced a turnover.

Increased time in the offensive zone as well as six third-period blocked shots helped Syracuse close out the victory. The game ended with Kelley and the defense combining for their first shutout victory since game one of the season against Post University on Sept. 29. In that game, SU blocked eight shots. Doubling that number Saturday helped keep RIT off the scoreboard.

“We keep games to small scores for the most part and that’s because of all the blocked shots that we get,” Hellett said. “So definitely it’s a big part of our game plan.”

Published on February 10, 2024 at 6:53 pm