“I thought we did a better job today from start to finish,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “Defensively, I thought we responded pretty well. It was a good league game for us and an important four points for us which will hopefully give us some momentum into next weekend against Mercyhurst.”
Drinkwater stopped all 16 shots she faced to earn the sixth shutout of her career. The SU defense helped her cause, blocking eight of PSU’s 30 total attempts.
Melissa Piacentini scored in the second period to extend her goal streak to six games and Nicole Renault tallied an assist on the game-winner to continue her point spurt, now at seven games, the second longest in school history. Piacentini also recorded an assist on the game-winner, which brings her point total in 2014 to 10 in seven games.
Margot Scharfe scored the game-winning goal and recorded a point on each of SU’s three scores.
Syracuse had 38 shots on net including 19 in the second period. The Orange allowed just four shots to go Drinkwater’s way in the final stanza, and blocked six to thwart the Nittany Lion’s power play unit, which saw action four times throughout the period.
Margot Scharfe opened scoring with 4:21 left in the first period. Nicole Renault took a shot from the point which Piacentini rebounded in front of the net and Scharfe was able to tip it in to give SU a one goal advantage.
Akane Hosoyamada nearly made it 2-0 off a breakaway shot at the beginning of the second stanza identical to Piacentini’s game-winner last night. She skated up the right side and sent one hard at Panniccia but it hit the post and bounced out, leaving the score at 1-0.
Piacentini notched the lead-extender 10:41 into the second period when she tipped in Danielle Leslie‘s shot from the point, giving the Orange a 2-0 advantage over the Nittany Lions going into the second intermission.
Syracuse had its final goal of the game on the first shot of the third period when Allie LaCombe got a slap shot from the point to hit the post and fall into the net to give SU a 3-0 lead, which it maintained for the final 19:41 of the game.
The Orange stays home next weekend to take on Mercyhurst on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. Syracuse will don pink jerseys in both games for its annual Skate For the Cure event.
