For the last several weeks, Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan has stressed additional second-line and third-line scoring as a means of improving the Orange’s offensive output. SU particularly struggled on the attack Friday against Rochester Institute of Technology, scoring only one goal on 42 shots in an overtime loss.

“I think we were a little frustrated last night,” Flanagan said. “I thought our top line was pressing too much.”

But on Saturday night, Flanagan’s wish for unusual scorers was granted.

Dakota Derrer, Heather Schwarz and Alysha Burriss provided that “secondary scoring” as the Orange (11-12-3, 7-3-2 College Hockey America) glided to an easy 3-0 victory over RIT (6-19-1, 2-9-1). Since Dec. 1, the trio had combined for just one goal, which was scored by Burriss on Jan. 12.

“You just don’t want to be one-dimensional,” Flanagan said. “It’s good to see some different names on the score sheet.”

The second-line began scoring early. Syracuse’s Jessica Sibley won a faceoff near RIT’s net just a minute and a half into Saturday’s action. She passed the puck toward the blue line, where Derrer corralled it and moved slightly to her right.

“I didn’t want to get my shot blocked (by an RIT defender) again,” Derrer said. “We’ve been working on not getting our shots blocked and working on our feet. I’ve been working on that a lot this week.”

Her practice paid off, as her shot hit Tiger goalie Jetta Rackleff’s left side and dribbled into the net. Derrer scored on SU’s second shot, and the Orange lead 1-0 lead just 99 seconds into the contest.

In the second period, SU’s Megan Quinn fired the puck from just outside the right faceoff circle. The puck hit Rackleff in the chest, bouncing off in front of the crease. Schwarz crashed the net, finding the puck on the left side of the net.

Seven minutes later, Syracuse would earn its third goal of the night thanks to Burriss who, like Schwarz, attacked the net and batted the puck into the net.

But the Orange’s aggressive approach harmed its quality of shots on several occasions. Syracuse struggled throughout the first period after Derrer’s goal, as its offensive strategy of creating shots close to the goal was countered by RIT’s collapsing, tight-knight defense that seemed to huddle Rackleff in goal.

When Sibley tried to overpower a defender inside, she was immediately double-teamed. Most of Melissa Piacentini’s passes across the ice were intercepted. And while a good amount of Syracuse’s shots were near the crease, only two of them found their way inside the goal. But on Saturday, that didn’t matter, because Syracuse managed to get three goals and allowed none.

“We’ve been trying to push our bodies into the net,” Schwarz said. “It’s how we score a lot of our dirty goals. You don’t need pretty goals to win a game.”

Published on January 23, 2016 at 11:56 pm

Contact Chris: cfthomse@syr.edu