Syracuse Women’s Hockey falls to Robert Morris 4-0

Syracuse entered its Senior Day matchup against Robert Morris hoping to pick up momentum heading into the postseason. However, the Orange fell short against the Colonials, dropping its final game of the regular season, 4-0, on Saturday.

SU once again found it tough to find the back of the net. The Orange finished the game with 25 shots on goal, but still failed to score. Many great shot opportunities were squandered, including when SU forward Stephanie Grossi whiffed on a shot with the entire right side of the net uncovered.

Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan expressed disappointment with the inability to capitalize.

“My memory shows a lot of shots going right into the goalie’s breadbasket,” Flanagan said. “A lot of our shots came off rushes, but we weren’t getting the rebounds.”

Robert Morris found itself on the scoreboard early, knocking one past SU goalie Abbey Miller to take a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. The floodgates began to open in the second, with the Syracuse defense surrendering three goals to RMU in less than seven minutes.

Flanagan noticed his team’s lackluster defensive play, pointing out specific examples of where the defense went wrong.

“(Robert Morris) had a three-on-two that they scored on where there was no backside pressure,” Flanagan added. “We have to be cognizant of the fact that if you’re the high forward or the backside D, you can’t cough up odd man rushes.”

Orange defender Kristen Siermachesky also noticed the struggles on defense, saying the team wasn’t always on the same page.

“It’s a unit of five—six with the goalie—and I think there were just little miscommunications here and there,” Siermachesky said. “We’re such a great time when we play together and I think that’s what we lacked.”

Miller did not have the performance she hoped for on Senior Day. She surrendered four goals in less than two periods, finishing her day with a save percentage of only 75 percent. With a few minutes left in the second period, she was pulled in favor of freshman Edith D’Astous-Morea.

The loss to RMU marks the end of the regular season for SU. The Orange finishes the season with a 12-20-2 record and third place in the College Hockey America standings. Since SU finished outside the top two, the Orange will not have a bye for next weekend’s conference tournament.

As a result, Syracuse will face RIT in a play-in game on Thursday at the Harbor Center in Buffalo, N.Y. SU swept the Tigers in a series two weeks ago. The winner of that game will head to the semifinals, where it will match up with either Robert Morris or Mercyhurst.