Jessica Sorensen crossed in front of the net and deked the Connecticut goaltender for a backhand goal. Less than four minutes into Friday’s game against Connecticut, Syracuse set the tone that it would be in command.

And with that goal, Syracuse got to do something it hasn’t done much this year — play with a lead.

‘It feels great, especially coming off from last weekend,’ Sorensen, the SU forward, said. ‘A big pick-me-upper throughout the whole team.’

Syracuse has struggled to jump out to early leads all season, but in the Orange’s 4-0 win against Connecticut on Friday, SU played with the lead for nearly the entire game. Eight minutes after Sorensen put Syracuse on the scoreboard, SU defenseman Jordyn Burns scored her first career goal to give the Orange a two-goal cushion. But on Friday, SU head coach Paul Flanagan wasn’t happy with a two-goal lead.

He pushed the team for a third goal and helped keep the team in the right mindset offensively.

‘The fact we couldn’t get that third goal for quite a while I think kept us focused,’ Flanagan said. ‘It’s nice when you can light it up earlier in the game, but the fact that we didn’t, we just stayed the course and kept working hard.’

Between the second and third goals, Syracuse kept its intensity up to protect the lead it had, especially on its penalty kill unit. Special teams have been a struggle all year for the Orange, but on Friday that wasn’t the case.

While searching for a third goal early in the second period, Burns pressured a Connecticut defenseman at the blue line despite being shorthanded. Burns forced a giveaway and converted it into one of Syracuse’s best scoring chances in the period.

‘We played really well together,’ Burns said. ‘Everyone was just really confident and there was a lot of talking going on out there, so it made it easier for us to stay composed.’

Less than two weeks ago in a loss to Colgate, Flanagan was critical of his team’s lack of energy. Since that night, there has been a noticeable change in the team’s aggression. In a pair of close games against Union last weekend, keeping energy up was an easier task than in the blowout win over the Huskies.

Still, the Orange maintained its intensity in searching for that third goal. In doing so, it also preserved Kallie Billadeau’s first shutout of the season.

Even when SU tacked on a pair of goals in the third period, turning the game into a full blowout, the defense didn’t ease up.

During one Connecticut power play, SU forwards Shiann Darkangelo and Holly Carrie-Mattimoe blocked back-to-back shots to kill off an ultimately meaningless penalty in a blowout win.

‘It was nice,’ Billadeau said of the blocked shots. ‘We worked on blocking shots in practice on Thursday, so they learned that really quickly.’

The shot-blocking prowess was part of an all-around fantastic effort from the Syracuse defense. The Orange held the Huskies to just 17 shots.

Billadeau credited the defense for her shutout more than anything. But the defense gives its credit to the offense getting them an early lead to work with.

‘It takes a lot of pressure off the ‘D,’ and that makes us play more composed and more confident with our decisions and whatnot,’ Burns said.

Syracuse’s success wasn’t solely the product of being comfortable with a lead. UConn was also forced to make adjustments after falling behind early and tried to mount a comeback.

For the most part, the Orange has been the team forced to make changes after getting down early, but on Friday it had the luxury of making the Huskies adjust. Flanagan just needed his team to keep playing smart.

Though SU was again stuck playing from behind the next day, in Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Huskies, Syracuse maintained its aggression throughout. For the time being, it appears that the Orange’s issues with lacking intensity are gone.

‘We had a few mental errors last game (against Union), but it was great this game,’ Sorensen said. ‘You could feel on the bench, the spirit was up.’

dbwilson@syr.edu