The Providence College women's ice hockey team recorded a non-conference, 2-1, win against the Syracuse Orange on Friday, Oct. 18 at Schneider Arena in the first game of a weekend home series. After the victory, the Friars overall record improves to 3-2-0, as they have won two consecutive home games.
Graduate Student Janine Weber's (Innsbruck, Austria) second goal in as many games gave the Friars the lead at 5:58 of the first period. Freshman Cassidy Carels (Bruxelles, Manitoba) tallied her first career assist on the play when she got the puck to Weber in the neutral zone. Sophomore Lexi Romanchuk (San Jose, Calif.) also registered an assist on the goal. After gaining the offensive zone, Weber fired off the original shot that was blocked by the Syracuse defenseman. Weber managed to once again get possession of the puck and sent a shot that went off of the goal post and past Syracuse goaltender Kallie Billadeau.
At 10:34 of the second period, senior Corinne Buie (Edina, Minn.) doubled the Friars lead with her third goal of the season. Sophomore Brittney Thunstrom (Coon Rapids, Minn.) connected a pass to classmate Courtney Kukowski (Apple Valley, Minn.) who drove to the Syracuse net but her shot was stopped by Billadeau. Buie followed up on the play, collected the loose puck in the crease and put it past Billadeau to give the Friars a 2-0 lead after the first 40 minutes of play. Kukowski and Thunstrom each earned their first point of the season with assists on the game winner.
Syracuse cut the Friars lead in half at 5:58 of the final period when Brittney Krebs notched an unassisted power-play goal. Syracuse's final push during the third period was not enough to tie the game.
Both teams were strong on the penalty kill in the game. The Friars went 6-for-7, and successfully killed off a 5-on-3 for 1:24 in the third period. Providence could not find a way to get past Syracuse while playing with the man advantage as the Orange killed off all ten Friar power-play opportunities.
Providence sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Bryant (Bethlehem, Pa.) made 23 saves, including a number of big saves in the final minutes of the third period to secure the Friars win. Billadeau stopped 27 shots during the game, with 17 of those coming in the second period.
With the victory, the Friars earned their first win at home against the Orange moving their all-time series record to 2-1-0 between the two. The two-game series will conclude at Schneider Arena tomorrow, Oct. 19 at 3:00 p.m.