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Sarah Marchand fired a shot from the left circle that bounced off Lindenwood goalie Natalie Ferenc’s chest guard. The puck rattled around and went off of Sarah Thompson before it was left abandoned in the middle of the ice, where Marchand was already following up her own miss.

Marchand took the puck in stride and snuck it between the right post and the goalie’s foot before getting tripped up and finishing with a penguin slide into the corner. SU extended its lead to 2-0 just 6:17 into the game and went up early against the Lions for the second straight day.

Marchand scored two goals, one in each of the first two periods, to lead Syracuse (5-7-1, 4-0 College Hockey America) to a 4-3 victory over Lindenwood (0-8, 0-4 CHA). She put pressure on the Lions early, earning three of her four shots in the first period. Marchand finished the game with a game-high plus/minus (+3).

“She’s a player that can make a difference every shift,” head coach Britni Smith said. “We look for her to be the player that, when you need one, it’s on her stick.”

On her first goal, Marchand gave credit to Mik Todd for keeping possession with a steal in enemy territory, which set up Marchand’s score. She said she was trying to pass it to Lauren Bellefontaine in the goalie crease, but it rattled around and she put herself in the right position for the putback.

Marchand got off four shots in the first period compared to just two in the rest of the match. Smith has talked about the importance of getting out to early leads on multiple occasions, and she said Marchand was a big part of that early momentum for the Orange today.

“She steps up when she needs to,” Smith said. “Having her on the ice gives confidence to the team and allows us to relax a little bit.”

Right after scoring her first goal, Marchand almost capitalized again on a give-and-go from Bellefontaine. Marchand received the pass back from Bellefontaine just inside the right circle, but her slap shot was blocked by Chloe Corbin, who finished with three blocks on the afternoon.

Marchand also won all four of her faceoff attempts, despite boasting a 56% clip on the season thus far. She said that she didn’t put any extra emphasis on that during practice, but it’s something she plans to continue with, switching off at center with Bellefontaine depending on the side of the faceoff.

The Orange held a two-goal lead with two minutes left in the second period, but the Lions came charging back to tie it with 15:35 remaining in the third. So, Marchand reverted to a defensive-minded strategy, helping to trap the puck in the corner during a Lindenwood power play with 10:35 remaining in the game.

The same line was on the ice for both of Marchand’s goals, a group consisting of Marchand, Bellefontaine, Terryn Mozes, Mik Todd and Maya D’Arcy. Smith has been more consistent with the lines that she plays throughout each game. Smith said having that consistency has helped the team’s chemistry, and it showed this weekend.

“Early in the year we were trying to find what made us successful,” Smith said. “I think we have come closer and closer to finding what our recipe is and it’s nice to have that consistency.”

Marchand said that getting early momentum has been the Orange’s biggest challenge in losses this season, so getting the team up early with a goal was “big for us.”

In the second period, when SU led 2-1, Marchand got another scoring opportunity. Todd stole the puck from Morgan Neitzke on the boards and passed to a wide-open Marchand ahead of the defense. Marchand took her time on the attack, moving the puck side-to-side multiple times before chipping it into the top right corner of the net for her second score of the night.

“One whole side was wide open,” Marchand said. “So I was going to shoot there the whole time.”

Published on November 5, 2022 at 8:11 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu