First-year Kiley Mastel's goal with six minutes and nine seconds remaining in the first period proved all the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team would need in a 2-0 victory over the Syracuse Orange on Thursday night in Syracuse, N.Y.
 
The Saints controlled the possession and tone of the game from the start. The Saints had the first eight shots-on-goal in the game and finished the period outshooting Syracuse 11-4.
 
The Scarlet and Brown would finally break through late in the first period after sustained pressure in the Orange's defensive zone. Katina Duscio's shot from the point went wide and Shailynn Snow outmuscled a defender to feed Mastel in the slot, whose shot beat Syracuse's goaltender, Arielle DeSmet, under her glove.
 
Syracuse killed off a Saints' power play to start the second period, but St. Lawrence would quickly recover from an early drop in precession in their play.
 
The rest of the middle frame was dominated by SLU, outshooting Syracuse 24-7.
 
The line featuring Snow, Aly McLeod, and Hillary Sterling had multiple great transition opportunities throughout the period, and first-year Kennedy Wilson displayed great stickhandling in multiple instances, but DeSmet had a stellar period keeping the Saints off the scoreboard.
 
St. Lawrence continued their territorial advantage in the third period and withstood a final Syracuse push to tie the game.
 
Anna Segedi would seal-the-deal with a 100-foot empty-net goal with 43 seconds remaining in the game. Chloé Puddifant and Suyeon Eom would record assists on the play.
 
Saints' goaltender Lucy Morgan was not tested often, but was strong when called upon. She finished with 12 saves.
 
Morgan now ranks fourth on the Saints' all-time career save list with 2,005 saves and completed her first shutout of the season for her 10th career shutout in goal with tonight's win.
 
Arielle DeSmet finished with 43 saves, keeping the Orange in the striking distance the whole game.
 
"That was a full team effort," said head coach Chris Wells. "We were able to get everyone going on the bench. Desmet played fabulous again in the net for Syracuse and we kept pressuring on them each period."
 
With the victory, the Saints improved to 2-3, while Syracuse fell to 1-3
 
"We will utilize the day off tomorrow to get ready for another game vs. Syracuse on Saturday," Wells added. "Lots of our players have been working hard on a number of things to make an impact in the game and they saw some rewards from their efforts tonight. There's a lot to build on for our team after the first six games!"
 
The Scarlet and Brown return to action against Syracuse on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Appleton Arena.