Syracuse is in the best position of any team in the program’s five-year history, making this weekend’s matchup at College Hockey America rival and defending conference champion Robert Morris a pivotal series.

“We already have more wins this year than I have had in the past two years,” forward Jacquie Greco said. “We’re already on track to do really well, and obviously since I am a senior and it is my last year I want to win this thing.”

The Orange played a home series against Robert Morris earlier this season, and both games were tight matchups. SU lost the first game by one and won the second by the same margin, 4-3. Getting at least one win in that series was critical, as it helped the Orange to near-prime position, just three points behind Mercyhurst for first in the CHA standings. The Orange (14-11-1, 8-3-1 CHA) will look to improve its spot in the CHA when it takes on the Colonials (10-9-3, 6-5-1 CHA) on Friday and Saturday at 3 p.m.

As it enters an eight-game, season-ending stretch of CHA play, the Orange knows how crucial it is to come away with maximum points this weekend. In preparation, head coach Paul Flanagan is emphasizing cleaning up the inconsistent finishing that’s stripped the Orange of crucial conference points this season.

“I think it’s important to come away with both (wins). They’re definitely a rival,” said forward Holly Carrie-Mattimoe. “I think it’s going to be a tough battle, especially since they let two kind of get away from them last weekend. We might need to weather the storm off of the bat but we are definitely excited.”

Like Greco said, this will be her and fellow captain Carrie-Mattimoe’s last season with the program. Both are huge influences in the locker room. As they prepare for the final stretch of their collegiate careers, they have one goal in mind: win the CHA.

“That was one of mine and Greco’s goals coming into Syracuse,” Mattimoe said. “We definitely wanted to win the conference. We have a huge shot at it this year. It would be great.”

The fact that it’s Mattimoe and Greco’s last season not only serves as motivation for the two captains, but for their teammates as well. They are well-respected members of the team, and their teammates want to send them out with a CHA title.

“It’s huge,” Margot Scharfe said. “They have done a lot for this program and this is the year the whole team believes that it is possible. It would be a letdown if we didn’t succeed when we know that we can.”

Syracuse holds the No. 2 position in the conference standings. After struggling to an overtime tie and a 2-0 loss last weekend against RIT, Robert Morris sits in fourth, four points behind SU for the coveted second spot in the conference.

The top two teams in the standings receive byes for the first week of the conference tournament.

Flanagan said even though teams often struggle when coming off of a bye, it is still something the team is striving to get.

“Just say, for example, we are in third place,” Greco said. “We might have to travel to Lindenwood or they might have to come here. That’s just another weekend we won’t have to rest, so I think it’s really important for us to get one of those top two seeds and a bye weekend.”

As SU prepares to travel to Robert Morris, Flanagan said he is simply focusing on scoring. Throughout the season, the team has struggled to finish its chances, piling up shots on goal but too often falling a goal short.

Flanagan knows that if the team is going to come away with full points this weekend, it needs to improve its scoring.

“The last two days we have really put a premium on working on from an offensive perspective, trying to pick corners, trying to be more efficient in scoring because we had a lot of shots this past weekend,” Flanagan said. “Really just getting good focus when we get good opportunities and burying your shots and being more efficient that way.”

Published on January 31, 2013 at 12:01 am

Contact Ryan: rlraigro@syr.edu