Three minutes into the third period, SU head coach Paul Flanagan looked dejected with his hands on his hips as Syracuse faced a four-goal deficit to No. 9 Robert Morris.

With a top-two finish and a first-round bye in next week’s College Hockey America tournament up for grabs entering the weekend, Flanagan had no answer to his team’s performance.

“Wish I knew (what went wrong),” Flanagan said.

Syracuse (12-19-2, 11-7-1 CHA) has clinched the third seed in next week’s CHA post-season tournament after falling 5-0 to No. 9 Robert Morris (19-7-4, 13-3-3 CHA). After failing to score on 16 first-period shots, SU only tallied 10 more for the rest of the game.

In order to reach the top two in the conference, the Orange would have had to defeat the No. 9 team twice in two days. While SU will now have to win three games in three days starting next Thursday in order to win the first CHA title in program history, the Orange remain confident that it can “break the streak.”

“The team’s faced nothing but adversity so it’s not like we can’t win (the title),” redshirt junior Brooke Avery said. “It’s a little more difficult now; it’s not out of the question. It’s just another battle for us.”

With six and a half minutes remaining in the second period, the Orange faced a two-goal deficit. After senior forwards Stephanie Grossi and Alysha Burriss failed to convert on a 2-on-1 breakaway, the Colonials sped back down the ice, trying to ice away any opportunity for an SU comeback.

Robert Morris junior defender Kirsten Welsh received the puck at the blue line on a return pass from senior forward Jessica Gazzola. SU senior defender Megan Quinn began to skate towards her, late to recognize the play.

Welsh’s shot fake tricked Quinn, opening up a clear chance at net. While senior goaltender Abbey Miller was able to stop the first attempt, the rebound went right to freshman forward Lexi Templeman, who stuffed the puck into the net and propelled Robert Morris to a three-goal lead.

“If I was watching this game, just showed up and watched this game, I would label us as a poorly coached team,” Flanagan said. “We didn’t have them ready for that second or third period.”

Even though SU ended up with one more shot than the Colonials, it was outscored by five. This is the ninth time that Syracuse has failed to score this season.

The “disappointing” effort has now forced the Orange into a predicament where it has to win three games in three days at next week’s CHA tournament. Before the playoffs begin, the team is confident that it can turn its fate around if it approaches tonight’s loss against RMU with the right attitude, Grossi said.

With the loss, SU will now face last-place Rochester Institute of Technology on Thursday, March 1. The Orange outscored the Tigers 22-3 in four matchups this season.

“Past couple years we’ve had that automatic bye,” Avery said, “but it’s not like it can’t be done.”

Published on February 23, 2018 at 10:59 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman