After sitting behind Abbey Miller for two seasons and Maddi Welch for two games, junior goalkeeper Ady Cohen got her chance in net for Syracuse (0-3, 0-2 College Hockey America).

On Saturday afternoon against the defending CHA champions Mercyhurst (2-4, 2-0) Lakers, Cohen registered 23 saves but allowed the deciding goal in a 1-0 loss in which the SU offense failed to execute.

After the last night’s 4-2 loss in the first game of the weekend series against Mercyhurst, head coach Paul Flanagan decided it would be “appropriate” to make a goalie change.

“I think I’d be the first to say (Welch has) done a decent job,” Flanagan said. “I think it was to the point where she hadn’t been doing a great job, but in fairness to Maddi, she hasn’t played a lot.”

Cohen is also inexperienced. In over two years with the Orange, she appeared in four games prior to Saturday. At 5-foot-6, Cohen is smaller but more mobile than the 5-foot-7 Welch, Flanagan said. Flanagan expects Cohen and Welch to both play “quite a few minutes this year.” He acknowledges that he has “a decision to make” because of how well Cohen played.

Against Mercyhurst, Cohen used her agility to make several difficult stops, using her body, glove, and stick when necessary.

15 minutes into the game, Mercyhurst’s Vilma Tanskanen flicked a wrist shot from just outside the crease, but Cohen deflected it away with her shoulder pad.

Mercyhurst opened the second period with a flurry of shots. Cohen snagged a slapshot from the blueline with her glove, then kicked a wrist shot away for her 12th and 13th saves of the game.

Cohen was a brick wall until Lakers forward Sam Isbell crossed over from left to right in front of the net and snuck a wrist shot past Cohen’s ear into the upper shelf.

“I think it just managed to squeak by me,” Cohen said. “I was kinda unlucky with my positioning but it happens.”

Isbell’s goal was the only score for either team.

No matter how well Cohen played in net, no hockey team can win while scoring no goals. On offense, SU generated chances but failed to execute time and time again.

In the second period, Abby Moloughney and Jessica DiGirolamo each had breakaway chances but couldn’t convert. Moloughney’s wrist shot went wide right and DiGirolamo lost the handle as she crossed from the right to the left side of the crease.

“Knowing that we can get chances like that,” forward Brooke Avery said, “Since they’re not as common, is (a sign of) more to come.”

SU works on 1-on-1 opportunities in practice by simulating pressure from behind with back checks, Avery said.

They didn’t only have breakaway chances, though. By using defender Lindsay Eastwood at the blue line as a facilitator and scoring threat, the Orange generated scoring chances everywhere on the ice. Eastwood recorded a team-high nine shot attempts, five of them on net.

“I think they really wanna use my shot,” Eastwood said. “I’m a bigger girl, so it helps to get more behind it (the puck) and stuff. I work on that all the time, one-timers, just get it move it kinda thing. Using my shot really helps from the point.”

With under four minutes remaining in the game, SU forward Emma Polaski carried the puck on the left wing. Her shot zoomed across the net and dinged off the right post.

“We’re going to tell the forwards to close their eyes and shoot from now on, stop trying to pick corners and stuff,” Flanagan joked after the game.

Although SU didn’t score, the head coach was happy with the shots they created, citing “five or six” times Mercyhurst’s goalie denied shots that could have found the net against another team.

Executing, and getting goal support for whichever goalkeeper is in net, will be pivotal for the Orange as the season progresses. They’ve scored three goals in the first three regular season games. The Orange outshot Mercyhurst 25-24.

“We really need to work on executing,” Eastwood said. “We were right there so many times and it’s right at our fingertips. We just need to figure out a way to get it in the back of the net next time. They’re coming. We had a lot of shots today. I think it was a better game than yesterday. We just need to work on putting pucks in the net.”