As time trickled out on the Syracuse five-on-three power play late in the third period, head coach Paul Flanagan flailed his head away from the ice in disgust.

The Orange, in desperate need of an offensive spark, wasted a two-man advantage and gave itself little hope of climbing back into the game.

‘A lot of times when you score you take it for granted,’ Flanagan said. ‘When it’s five-on-three we should score every time. And it’s deflating because we tried to be too precise with the puck rather than getting it on net and banging away in front of the net. Those were the types of opportunities we didn’t take advantage of today.’

Syracuse (9-18-3, 0-5-3 College Hockey America) squandered plenty of goal-scoring chances against Robert Morris (16-8-2, 5-2-1 CHA) on Saturday and fell 5-2 to the Colonials in front of 341 at Tennity Ice Pavilion in SU’s final home game of the season. The Orange’s frequent inconsistencies left Flanagan scratching his head in disbelief as the players were unable to rally around the emotions of senior day and snag their first conference win. SU also fell Friday to Robert Morris, 4-3.

Saturday’s result against the Colonials marked SU’s third straight loss against a conference opponent and fifth overall. At this point in the season, Flanagan said he isn’t as worried about playing the probable No. 1 seed Mercyhurst in the CHA tournament, as he is worried about fixing a handful of mistakes that plagued the Orange this past weekend.

Finishing plays was one of those areas of difficulty. The SU forwards skated deep inside the Colonials zone countless times, made a good one-time pass and then were either smothered by the defensive pressure or denied by goaltender Kristen DiCiocco.

And the few times that the Orange forwards did get a clear path to shoot, no one was able to corral the puck for the rebound putback in front of the net.

‘The scoring hasn’t been going our way, and it all comes down to a few plays that we should’ve made,’ senior Megan Skelly said. ‘It’s very stressful for us when we hit the post or miss an empty net when we shoot because these are plays that usually make or break games during our season.’

Syracuse had a prime chance to extend its slim one-goal lead midway through the first period. Freshman Kaillie Goodnough sliced her way past two Colonial defenders, fired a wrist shot from inside the right circle and saw her shot trickle in front of the net after being deflected by DiCiocco. Then Sam Press was in perfect position to hammer home the rebound, but hesitated slightly and tried to force a weak shot past DiCiocco, who saved it easily.

Plain and simple, SU faltered on its scoring chances because of poor puck possession. The Colonials did an excellent job at controlling time of possession throughout the game. RMU used crisp passes to help spread out the Syracuse defense, throwing SU’s 2-3 defensive scheme off-balance.

Junior Holly Carrie-Mattimoe said that because defenders were spread out around the ice, the Orange couldn’t execute its aggressive style of defense, called forecheck. As a result, the players couldn’t get any initial pressure on the forwards, which allowed Robert Morris to pick away at the Syracuse zone.

Penalties also limited the Orange attack Saturday and left the defense vulnerable. SU combined for only 10 penalty minutes, but each infraction became more costly as players continued struggling to score. The Colonials made Syracuse pay for its lack of discipline, scoring twice on the power play to put the game out of reach.

‘We saw a lot of penalty kills, especially in the second period,’ Skelly said. ‘It’s very difficult to get offense going when you’re constantly on the penalty kill and the lines are getting all messed up. Staying out of the box has to be one of our major concerns.’

awmirmin@syr.edu

 

Published on February 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm