Syracuse won more faceoffs, finished with more shots on goal and had more power-play opportunities against Lindenwood. But in the end, Lindenwood had more goals.

The Orange (18-14-1, 12-6-1 College Hockey America) fell to the Lions (7-23-3, 7-9-3 CHA) on Tuesday night 2-1 in overtime. It was SU’s first lost of the season to LU, and moves the Lions closer to tying Robert Morris and RIT for third place in the CHA standings.

In the first period, Syracuse outplayed Lindenwood in almost every aspect of the game, until the Lions’ Allysson Arcibal launched a goal into the net with 56 seconds left in the period. The goal put the visitors ahead. SU would never lead.

“I give them the world of credit. They outworked us. They outcompeted us,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. “I’m extremely disappointed in our team. They just didn’t show up.”

In the end, the Orange finished with eight more shots on goal than the Lions, but LU goalie Nicole Hensley kept SU from gaining the advantage on the scoreboard.

The freshman finished the game with 42 saves, but a large portion was easy.

“We shot a lot of pucks right at her stomach,” Syracuse goalie Jenesica Drinkwater said. “They had some definitely more challenging saves on me. Their goalie kept them in.”

The Orange had many opportunities to take the lead, but once again failed to convert. SU finished the day 0-for-4 on power plays. But those weren’t the only times Syracuse failed to convert on easy opportunities.

Multiple times, when the Orange had the puck in front of the net, a forward misfired on a dish or failed to control the puck, resulting in a turnover.

“That’s an unacceptable effort,” Flanagan said. “We missed a lot of passes and looked a little bit out of sync.”

After the first two periods, SU and Lindenwood were tied with 23 shots on net apiece. But in the third, Syracuse fired 20 pucks at the net compared to the Lions’ 10. Even though the Orange fired more at the net, Jacquie Greco said the team missed on too many other opportunities.

“We don’t have a lot of time to capitalize on those (chances),” Greco said. “In two weekends, in the championship game, when we need it, I know it’s going to be there.”

The forward was the only player to capitalize on an offensive opportunity for the Orange. Just 10 minutes into the third period, Greco fired in, ultimately forcing overtime.

Just more than a minute after the game restarted, it ended. Lindenwood center Caitlyn Post grabbed an offensive rebound and knocked the puck into the net to give the Lions the victory.

“They were cutting around at the top of the circle and they fired it back across the right, and I made a toe save on it,” Drinkwater said. “But unfortunately, we didn’t get enough sticks on it and it flipped right in.”

Flanagan said after that the game wasn’t only lost in overtime – it was lost in regulation. For 50 minutes, he said, the team didn’t show up.

In the end, Flanagan, Greco and Drinkwater all pointed to Hensley’s excellent play and SU’s failure to execute as the reason they lost. Hensley visited SU last season and could have ended up in a Syracuse uniform – just extra salt in the wound of the Orange’s final series loss.

“She came out here for a visit last year,” Flanagan said. “We’ve known about her, we watched her play.”

Published on February 27, 2013 at 2:16 am

Contact David: dlauterb@syr.edu