Syracuse Ice Hockey: Orange Fall To Colgate Despite Late Push

When looking at the stat sheet, all signs point to the fact that Syracuse probably should've beaten Colgate. The Orange outshot the Raiders 36-17, they won nearly 70 percent of faceoffs (30/43), and they dominated possession. But stats are stats and Syracuse (6-8-1) fell to Colgate, 2-1.

The Orange generated offense, but struggled to put pucks past Colgate (7-2-5) goalie Julia Vandyk. Vandyk had a game high 35 saves. Across the ice, Syracuse netminder Jenn Gilligan registered 15 saves.

The game started off slow from a scoring standpoint. At the end of the first period both teams went into the lockroom without a goal. Then in the second, more of the same. However, midway through the period the Raiders broke the silence as Colgate's leading scorer, Jessie Eldridge, put one past Gilligan. Eldridge would later haunt Syracuse again in the third period when she assisted Breanna Wilson-Bennett to put Colgate up 2-0.

With the clock winding down, Syracuse pulled Gilligan for the extra-attacker opportunity and it paid off. Sophomore Megan Quinn put a shot past Vandyk and Syracuse was finally able to get on the board, but Colgate still led 2-1. The Orange battled until the final whistle to create scoring chances, but to no avail. Colgate's one goal lead held on as the final buzzer sounded.

After a short two-game road trip, Syracuse returns home to face No. 7 North Dakota in a weekend series. The first of the two games on Friday November 27th will be played at the War Memorial Arena at 3 p.m., the next will be played the following day at the Tennity Ice Pavilion.