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| Kaillie Goodnough had two points on the night. One goal and one assist. |
SYRACUSE, N.Y.- For the first time since the opening night of the season, the Syracuse Orange were winners.
The SU women won their conference opener, beating the Penn State Nittany Lions 3-1 at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday night.
Defender Kaillie Goodnough was the top performer of the night, picking up Syracuse's first goal, and an assist on the last.
She was relied upon for minutes against Penn State's top players.
"Just staying confident and choosing your moments is a big part of being out there a lot," Goodnough said, "but I had a lot of support from the team, so that was good."
Goodnough and the rest of the defense contained the Nittany Lions, who managed to find a lot of time in the offensive zone, but only had 20 shots to show for it.
"What we've been working on a lot is just having better defensive posture, so that we're between the puck and the net," Head Coach Paul Flanagan said, "and I think that thwarted a lot of their opportunities."
Goodnough's goal came 11 minutes into the game. She carried the puck into the offensive zone with space, and flipped a wrist shot past Penn State goalie Celine Whitlinger.
"(I) saw there was a girl driving to the net," Goodnough said, "so I thought just get it on the net, and it paid off."
That was the only goal of the first period, which also saw no penalties.
Penn State received the first power play of the game midway through the second period and capitalized with an equalizer.
Laura Bowman set up Amy Petersen, who fired a slap shot that went into the net cleanly.
Less than two minutes later, Syracuse captain Julie Knerr answered with a slap shot of her own from the point to regain the lead for the Orange.
Syracuse came out in the third period and quickly crashed the Penn State net. A shot from Allie LaCombe trickled past Whitlinger and closed out the scoring for the night.
The Nittany Lions increased their scoring opportunities towards the end of the game, showing desperation, but they were unable to tighten the game.
Syracuse goalie Jenn Gilligan, who was relatively untested for most of the night, made some big stops, including a save on a Bowman breakaway.
These two teams go right back at it on Saturday at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 pm.
Elsewhere in the Conference
The four other teams in College Hockey America opened their league play as well Friday night,
The Lindenwood Lions traveled to Rochester to face the RIT Tigers. That game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Meanwhile, the two teams that tied for first in the conference Coaches' Poll, the Robert Morris Colonials and the Mercyhurst Lakers, met at Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers won 3-0.
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