Two wins.

That’s all the Syracuse women’s ice hockey team needs to match last season’s win total. And the season, which stretches until March, is only about one-third over.

After outscoring Rensselaer and RIT 10-1 in its three home games last week, Syracuse (8-5-1) is confident heading into two games against Robert Morris this weekend in Tennity Ice Pavilion.

“I think that the wins are a big turning point for the team. We have more momentum going into the games, more confidence,” SU forward Melissa Piacentini said. “Going into the game on Friday, our coach mentioned that we should start doubling our scores. It was good to follow through with that.”

The Orange is 3-0-1 in College Hockey America play so far this season, good for second place behind Mercyhurst. Robert Morris, which won the conference title last season, is in fourth place. After two dominant victories last weekend, the Orange is clicking in all areas of the game.

SU won both games against Rensselaer 4-0. The Orange controlled the puck most of the time and managed to outshoot the Engineers 60-31. Before last weekend, the Orange was scoring an average of two and a half goals per game. At the same time, the defense was allowing an average of two goals per game.

Still, Syracuse has had an up-and-down start to the season as it has struggled to find consistency.

“I think our defense is doing well. I think our goalies are doing well. We just need to produce a little more offense, and I think this could be a turning point,” defender Jacquie Greco said.

Forward Holly Carrie-Mattimoe said she thinks the team gained a lot of confidence against RPI, which gives the Orange momentum going into the Robert Morris series.

“Definitely winning conference games and having those wins under our belt is a huge bonus for us,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “I think showing from experience, a lot of the older girls know what a physical weekend this is going to be.”

Last year, SU lost three games to Robert Morris and tied one while being outscored 12-7. This weekend, Carrie-Mattimoe said she thinks the outcome from this weekend could foreshadow the team’s tournament chances.

Carrie-Mattimoe said she thinks this season is shaping out to be a turnaround season for the program. She said that starting this weekend, she hopes the team can start fighting for the conference title.

“I think when we get on a role, they definitely see us as a competing team,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “We want to be a threat. We want to make people scared to come play in our barn.”

Goaltender Kallie Billadeau broke two school records on Friday. Billadeau completed her fourth shutout of the season and sixth of her career. She said the team needs to stay focused at practice in order to stay focused in the game.

“Just keep a real good mental focus. Physically, I think we are fine,” Billadeau said. “I think in the past few games we have shown our grittiness and our hard work, and I think we just need to keep that up.”

Billadeau agreed with what Carrie-Mattimoe and her coaches said about the importance of this weekend. She thinks that winning this weekend won’t just help their conference chances, but also their mindset.

“If we get two wins, we would have just as many wins as we had last season,” Billadeau said. “We have a lot more to prove and we have a lot of tough competitions coming up on our schedule.”

Published on November 28, 2012 at 11:35 pm

Contact David: dlauterb@syr.edu