SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A day after upsetting No. 4 Penn State in overtime, Syracuse Ice Hockey struggled to find the same offensive success Saturday afternoon, falling 4-0 to the Nittany Lions at Tennity Ice Pavilion.
Syracuse head coach Brian Idalski said Penn State made defensive adjustments that limited the transition opportunities the Orange capitalized on in Friday’s 5-4 victory.
“They pulled back and were way more conservative today, playing a 1-2-2,” Idalski said. “They were a little higher up and definitely wanted to take away some of the opportunities in transition and odd-man rushes that we got yesterday.”
Despite outshooting Penn State 30-21, the Orange couldn’t solve goaltender Maddy Campbell, who stopped all 30 shots she faced to secure the shutout.
Penn State opened the scoring at 11:58 of the first period when Nicole Hall converted on the power play, giving the Nittany Lions a 1-0 advantage.
Sofia Ismael doubled the lead just 31 seconds into the second period, but Syracuse continued to generate offensive pressure. The Orange outshot Penn State 15-7 in the period, with Campbell turning aside every opportunity.
Jessica Cheung led Syracuse with six shots on goal, followed by Jordan Blouin with five and Maryn Broderick with four.
Even trailing early in the contest, Idalski believed his team showed improvement compared with Friday’s victory.
“We had a much better second period than yesterday,” Idalski said. “And then third, we got loose there a couple times, fell into some bad habits and old habits.”
Penn State extended its lead early in the third period when Hall scored her second goal of the afternoon just 1:18 into the frame. Mikah Keller added another close to 90 seconds later, prompting Syracuse to call a timeout.
The Orange continued searching for an answer but couldn’t break through, finishing scoreless on five power-play opportunities. Penn State converted once on two chances.
Idalski acknowledged that Penn State’s defensive approach exposed areas Syracuse needs to improve, particularly its patience and puck possession.
“Quite honestly, we weren’t prepared to have a team of that talent kind of trap us up a little bit higher,” Idalski said. “So, we need to be more patient, come up together as a group.”
The loss dropped Syracuse to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in conference play, but the Orange finished the weekend with a split against a top five team.
Syracuse returns to conference play Friday, Oct. 16, when it travels to face Robert Morris for the first game of a two-game weekend series.