Heading into the season, Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan had “no idea” who his starting goalie would be.

“We had two girls (Ady Cohen and Maddi Welch) that didn’t play last year, so basically, from our viewpoint, it’s very much wide open,” Flanagan said. “I’d give Maddi, being a senior, with more experience, maybe a slight edge.”

Flanagan also referenced former goalie Edith D’Astous-Moreau, who played in the team’s final game last season — a 3-2 loss to Mercyhurst in the CHA semifinal. D’Astous-Moreau was Flanagan’s projected starter, but she left the team for personal reasons and now studies urban planning at Université de Montréal, she said.

Without D’Astous-Moreau, Syracuse (2-4-0, 2-2-0 College Hockey America) has not settled on a starting goaltender, six games into the season. Both goalies, Cohen and Welch, have started three games, each winning once and losing twice. Cohen has the slight edge in save percentage (.889 to .852) and has conceded eight goals to Welch’s 12. Welch has 69 saves overall and Cohen has 64. Cohen, 5-foot-6, has a smaller frame, but she is more agile than the 5-foot-7 Welch, Flanagan said.

A year after then-senior Abbey Miller, the former CHA goaltending trophy winner, started 29 of SU’s 36 games, the Orange has faced a goalie competition.

Cohen grew up in Boynton Beach, Florida, and fell in love with hockey after seeing the Florida Panthers mascot on television. Welch, on the other hand, was born into a hockey family in the hockey hub of East Amherst. Her dad played goalie at The College at Brockport, and her three sisters also play hockey.

Last weekend, both goalies picked up wins against Lindenwood University, with Cohen conceding four goals on 16 shots and Welch allowing three goals on 20 shots. Both goalies played well over the weekend, Flanagan said, but “surrendered a couple goals they’d like to have back.”

“That’s a position I’m going to fight for until the end of the year,” Welch said. “Regardless of whether I’m the starter or not, I’m still going to fight, I’m still going to practice as hard as I can every day.”

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On Tuesday, Cohen started against No. 7 Cornell, allowing three goals and making 29 saves in the 4-1 loss.

Cohen and Welch push each other in practice by supporting each other, often with gestures as simple as fist bumps after drills, Cohen said.

“We learn a lot from each other,” Cohen said. “We support each other always, and it’s good to just watch each other in practice. We take notes from each other, and it’s just a good relationship to have.”

Welch and Cohen both spent years under Miller’s tutelage. Miller, SU’s leader in career goals against average (2.02) and shutouts (11), has kept in touch with both goalies. She has given advice to Welch after games via text and chatted with Cohen outside the team bus after the Orange’s 5-1 loss to No. 6 Boston College on Oct. 6.

Miller said most of her advice pertains to the mental side of goaltending, especially as Welch and Cohen fight for playing time.

“Keeping your head in it ,and don’t let coach’s decision on who’s going to play affect you too much, because if you let that get in your head, you’re not going to be as successful,” Miller said.

Flanagan said he’s flexible in his approach to the goalies. In the past, he’s ridden one “hot hand” for most of the season, but he’s also played tandems in net. He is open to continuing to platoon the goaltenders and believes the skaters support both goalies.

“Maybe someone will emerge as a starter,” Flanagan said, “or we might be in a situation where we’re just kind of rotating, alternating.”