HAMILTON – The Colgate women's hockey program opened the season with a sweep of Syracuse as it earned a 3-1 win in the home opener at Class of 1965 Arena. Behind a pair of goals by
Eleri MacKay and a 27-save weekend by freshman goaltender
Kayle Osborne, the Raiders are off to a 2-0 start in 2020-21.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Eager to light the lamp,
Eleri MacKay scored for the Raiders just 1:28 after the drop of the puck on the Raiders home ice. However, Syracuse answered within three minutes to even the score at 1-1, a mark that would remain for the next 48:09 of play.
In a scoreless second period, the Raiders offensive drive began to ramp up, improving from their seven shots on goal in the opening period to 11 in the second. Colgate played a clean game that didn't allow any power play opportunities to the Orange through the first 40:00 of action, and utilized the man advantage to gain momentum in the offensive zone. A standout play came in the final minute of the period when Osborne made a sprawling save on a rebound opportunity for the Orange, which she shot down to keep it at a 1-1 stalemate.
The Raiders faced two penalty kills in the third period, neither sacrificing quality looks to the in-state rival. Coming off of the second successful kill with an amped up bench, the Raiders flew down the ice with an odd man rush to secure a 2-1 advantage behind
Rosy Demers' tally. Just 41 seconds later, the dagger came as
Eleri MacKay scored her second of the night to gain a 3-1 advantage with under 7:00 to play.
Although the Orange opted to pull their netminder for the extra skater, the Colgate defense held strong through the final horn to secure the 3-1 win and the weekend sweep in the opening weekend of play.
COLGATE SCORING PLAYS
• Period 1 | 1:28 – The puck sailed across the blue line by
Taylor Kirwan to
Sammy Smigliani in the right faceoff circle. From there, Smigliani crossed it into the slot to
Eleri MacKay, where her touch put it right over the toe of the Syracuse netminder.
• Period 3 | 12:20 – From down in the Colgate zone,
Maggie MacEachern chipped it over to neutral ice where the puck was picked up by
Kristyna Kaltounkova. The freshman had a short redirect to center the puck to
Rosy Demers, who skated it down and dangled in the slot before sliding it down low past the tender.
• Period 3 | 13:01 – After Demers took the puck into the zone, she fed it over to Kaltounkova against the right boards. Kaltounkova had a backhanded drop back to E. MacKay, where she swerved into the slot to create space before scoring the third of the night shortly after returning to full strength.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• Opening the scoring,
Eleri MacKay tallied her first goal of the season and the first on home ice for the Raiders. She followed it up with a second tally for a two-goal game for her third multi-goal game in her career.
• Freshman goaltender
Kayle Osborne suited up for her second consecutive start, and by adding 14 saves tonight, finished with a 27-save weekend featuring just three goals against.
• With the go-ahead goal, junior center
Rosy Demers notched her first of the season. She ultimately went on to earn a multi-point game by adding an assist and begins a two-game point streak with her three-point weekend.
• In addition to earning her first career point, freshman forward
Kristyna Kaltounkova recorded her first multi-point game behind a pair of apples.
• Colgate held Syracuse scoreless on the power play all weekend as the Orange went 0-for-6 across the two matchups.
• The Raiders held a 2-1 advantage in shots on goal, outshooting the in-state rival by a 34-15 margin. Gaining steam as the game went on, the Raiders improved from seven shots on goal in the opening period to 16 in the third period of play.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 3, Syracuse 1
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate holds a 2-0-0 record.
• Syracuse begins the season 0-2-0.
HEAD COACH GREG FARGO'S TAKE
"This was a fun weekend of hockey and it felt so good to be back playing in our home rink knowing we had so much support watching us from home. Tonight's game was another strong game against a tough team in Syracuse. I thought, like last night we played a strong team game and saw some great play all throughout our lineup, from the goaltender on out.
"I really like the depth of talent on this team but more importantly I really like how we found a way to come together and win together in another close game. Everyone on this team found a way to make an impact tonight and especially in the third period the energy on our bench carried us to that win tonight."
UP NEXT
Stay tuned as the Colgate women's hockey announces upcoming nonconference matchups each Tuesday online and on its social platforms.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate women's hockey program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateWIH and Instagram at colgatewih.
