Men’s cross country wins Regionals; ice hockey ties with, loses to Mercyhurst

The No. 14 Syracuse men’s team continued its impressive postseason run, capturing the NCAA Northeast Regional championship this Friday in the Bronx, N.Y. The win gives the men’s team its fourth regional title in five years.

The victory came two weeks after the Orange won the Atlantic Coast Conference title in its first season in the conference. Syracuse finished with 57 points Saturday, edging out Columbia (78) and Iona (81).

In the 10,000-meter race, Martin Hehir led the charge for Syracuse, finishing third overall in a time of 30:18, seven seconds behind winner Maksim Korolev of Harvard. SU’s Robert Molke finished fourth overall in 30:19, and Griff Graves finished in 13th in 30:33.

The No. 19 SU women’s team finished third overall in the region behind No. 12 Dartmouth and No. 2 Providence. Providence ran away with the title, finishing with 44 points, compared to Dartmouth’s 84 and Syracuse’s 135.

This is the second time this postseason where the women have only been outrun by the two teams in the field with higher rankings.

Margo Malone led the women, finishing 11th overall in the 6,000-meter race with a time of 20:31, 43 seconds behind winner Abbey D’Agostino of Dartmouth. Syracuse’s Meredith Speakman finished 19th in 20:48 and Brianna Nerud 30th in 21:07.

Next up for the Orange is the NCAA national championships next Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind. The men received an automatic bid while the women earned an at-large bid.

Ice Hockey

Syracuse (6-5-1, 2-1-1 College Hockey America) entered its weekend showdown with Mercyhurst (7-4-2, 2-1-1) on a five-game winning streak. But that streak was snapped this weekend, as the two games resulted in a tie and a loss against the Lakers.

On Friday, freshman forward Jessica Sibley continued producing offensively for the Orange. She capitalized on a power-play opportunity halfway through the period to give Syracuse the 1-0 lead.

Mercyhurst responded with two straight goals. Right wing Christine Bestland scored late in the first period to tie the game. Early in the second period, defenseman Jillian Skinner scored a goal off a power play and the Lakers took a 2-1 lead.

But Sibley added her second goal of the day midway through the second period to tie the game once again. Defenseman Kallie Goodnough managed to find her own shot, scoring an unassisted goal and giving the Orange a 3-2 lead late in the third period.

Mercyhurst responded with its third goal of the game. Defenseman J’nai Mahadeo scored off of assists from Emily Janiga and Jenna Dingeldein.

It proved to be the last goal scored of the game, as the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

On Saturday, a winner was declared after a combined eight goals from both teams. But Mercyhurst proved to be more explosive in the 5-3 victory over the Orange.

Trailing by one goal after the first period, Syracuse scored two consecutive goals within a four-minute span. Left wing Nicole Ferrara scored eight minutes into the period. Freshman defenseman Larissa Martyniuk scored a power-play goal less than four minutes later to give the Orange a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately for Paul Flanagan’s squad, the Orange was unable to match the Lakers’ production. Mercyhurst outscored Syracuse 4-1 the rest of the game.

Forward Christie Cicero finished with two goals for Mercyhurst, and ultimately started the offensive outburst in the second period. Less than a minute after Syracuse scored its second goal of the day, Cicero added a goal that tied the game at two.

Bestland followed with an unassisted goal to give Mercyhurst a 3-2 lead.

Nicole Renault scored the third goal of the game for the Orange early in the third period. But Mercyhurst scored two unanswered goals and ultimately secured the two-goal victory.

SU returns to Tennity Ice Pavilion for a weekend series against Robert Morris, which begins on Nov. 22.

—Compiled by The Daily Orange Sports staff