Hockey Takes on CHA Tournament

Friday, March 6

Erie, PA

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

Penn State (No. 4 seed)

3/5/2015 3:18:00 PM | Ice Hockey

Orange two wins from CHA title

SYRACUSE (10-14-10, 8-6-6 CHA) at CHA Tournament
Date & Time	Friday, March 6, 7/3 p.m.
Location	Erie, Pa.
Web Stream	AmericaOne
Game Notes	Syracuse
Live Stats	Cuse.com
Cuse Social Media	@Cuse
Hockey Social Media	@CuseIce

Tournament Time
- The Syracuse hockey team embarks on its quest for a CHA Championship this weekend in Erie Pa.
- The Orange will take on Penn State in Friday's semifinal, with the winner of that match up drawing the winner of RIT and Mercyhurst on Saturday.
- The Orange split the regular season series with both Penn State (1-1-2) and RIT (2-2-0), while going 1-2-1 against Mercyhurst this season.

'Cuse at the CHA Tournament
- Friday's semifinal will mark the 12th CHA Tournament game for Syracuse as a program.
- Syracuse is 5-6-0 in CHA Tournament games.
- The Orange is 3-3-0 all-time in CHA Semifinal games.
- A final would mark 'Cuse's fourth trip the the title game, going 0-3 in the previous three attempts.
- Combined, Syracuse is 1-5-0 all-time in postseason play against the three other teams that made it to semifinal weekend. The Orange have never faced Penn State in the CHA Tournament, are 1-0-0 against RIT and are 0-5-0 against Mercyhurst in CHA playoff games.
- Ten different members of the Orange have recorded points in the CHA Tournament, with Melissa Piacentini (two goals, two assists) and Akane Hosoyamada (four assists) leading the way with four each.
- Allie LaCombe 3 (three goals), Heather Schwarz 3 (two goals, one assist), Nicole Renault 2 (one goal, one assist), Jessica Sibleys 2 (one goal, one assist), Julie Knerr 2 (one goal, one assist) Danielle Leslie 2 (two assists), Kaillie Goodnough 1 (one assist), Larissa Martyniuk 1 (one assist).
- No current Syracuse goaltender has played in a CHA Tournament game for the Orange, however Jenn Gilligan saw action in two Hockey East playoff games as a freshman and sophomore at New Hampshire. She has 39 saves in 85:51 miuntes of action in the postseason.

'Cuse vs. Penn State
- SU is 9-1-2 all-time against Penn State, with the Orange outscoring the Nittany Lions 36-16, however the teams split this year's season series 1-1-2, with each team recording nine goals against the other.
- Penn State picked up its first ever win over the Orange by a score of 4-2 in the teams last meeting on Jan. 31.
- This is the first ever postseason meeting between the two teams.
- Melissa Piacentini has been the best member of the Orange against Penn State, with seven goals and five assists in 12 career games (1.0 points per game).
- In addition to Piacentini, 12 other members of the Orange have recorded points against their CHA rival.
- Nicole Renault 9 (3 goals, 6 assists) , Kaillie Goodnough 8 (2 goals, 6 assists), Jessica Sibley 6 (2 goals, 4 assists), Allie LaCombe 5 (4 goals, 1 assist), Akane Hosoyamada 3 (1 goal, 2 assists), Heather Schwarz 2 (2 assists), Danielle Leslie 2 (1 g, 1 a), and Julie Knerr 3 (2 goals, 1 assist), Stephanie Grossi 3 (1 goal, 2 assists), Alysha Burriss 3 (2 goals, 1 assist) Emily Costales 2 (2 assists) and Larissa Martyniuk 1 (1 assist) have also recorded points against Penn State in their careers.

'Cuse vs. Mercyhurst
- This would be the 35th meeting all-time between the Orange and Lakers, by far the most of any program Syracuse has faced.
- Syracuse is 1-30-4 all time against the Lakers.
- The Orange went 1-2-1 against the Lakers this season, with the team picking up its first win in program history against Mercyhurst in November.
- Melissa Piacentini scored twice in the win, with Stephanie Grossi dishing out a pair of assists. Allie LaCombe, Nicole Renault, Larissa Martyniuk, Alysha Burriss and Jessica Sibley also recorded a point.
- Last season, Syracuse went 0-4-1 against Mercyhurst, with three of the four losses as being decided by one goal.
- The Lakers have eliminated the Orange from the playoffs in each of the past five seasons.
- Melissa Piacentini has the most points of any active players against Mercyhurst with 10.
- Kaillie Goodnough 6 (2 goals, 4 assists), Jessica Sibley 6 (2 goals, 4 assists), Nicole Renault 6 (3 goals, 3 assists), Akane Hosoyamada 5 (1 goal, 4 assists), Allie LaCombe 4 (1 goal, 3 assists), Larissa Martyniuk 3 (2 goals, 1 assist), Stephanie Grossi 3 (1 goal, 2 assists), Alysha Burriss 3 (2 goals, 1 assist), Dakota Derrer (1 assist), Danielle Leslie (1 assist),
Heather Schwarz (1 assist) and Julie Knerr (1 goal) each have points against the Lakers in their careers.
- Jenn Gilligan has played all four games in net this season against Mercyhurst, recording the program's first win against the lakers and allowing just under 2.5 goals per game against Mercyhurst.

'Cuse vs. RIT
- This would be the 13th meeting between the two teams in program history.
- Syracuse is 6-5-1 all-time against the Tigers.
- Syracuse is 1-0 in the posteseason against RIT.
- 'Cuse and RIT have played some barn burners over the last two years, with six of the 10 games between the two teams going to overtime and nine of 12 being decided by one goal.
- Alysha Burriss has already seemed to take a liking to playing against RIT, scoring five goals in the Orange's two wins against the Tigers this season. Her performance earned her CHA Player of the Week before the Tigers scored in overtime after a late game-tying goal split the series at 1-1-0 on the year in January. She later scored two goals in the Friday's win during the final regular season weekend before the Tigers took a 1-0 win on Saturday.
- The teams are 2-2-0 against each other this season.
- Thirteen different members of the current Orange have recorded points against the Tigers.
- Jessica Sibley 8 (4 goals, 4 assists), Akane Hosoyamada 8 (3 goals, 4 assists), Allie LaCombe 7 (2 goals, 5 assists), Nicole Renault 6 (one goal, five assists), Melissa Piacentini 6 (four goals, two assist), Alysha Burriss 6 (5 goals, 1 assist), Larissa Martyniuk 3 (3 assists), Julie Knerr 4 (2 goals, 2 assists), Danielle Leslie 4 (4 assists), Kaillie Goodnough 1 (1 assist), Heather Schwarz 3 (2 goals, 1 assist), Stephanie Grossi 1 (1 assist) and Megan Quinn 1 (1 assist) each scoring against the Tigers.

On Fire in February
- Syracuse enters the CHA Touranment on a tear after going 4-1-1 in the month of February.
- The Orange jumped from No. 4 to No. 2 in the CHA standings over the span of the month.
- A big reason why is the play of Melissa Piacentini and Jenn Gilligan recently. Piacentini recorded nine points in six games in February, including three multi-point games. Gilligan allowed just 1.58 goals per game in February, including allowing just one goal in four of her five starts in the month.
- Syracuse entered the final regular season game having already clinched the No. 2 seed an ultimately dropped its only game of the month at RIT, which snapped the nation's secondlongest unbeaten streak at the time.

Piacentini Sets Goals Record
- Forward Melissa Piacentini is used a three-goal weekend to against Lindenwood to break the all-time goals scored record.
- Margot Scharfe previously held the record at 42. Piacentini enters this weekend with 44.
- Piacentini's record-breaking goal came on the power play, marking her 10th PPG of the season, which leads the nation (she now has 11).

Defensive Dominance
- February's hot play has been in large part due to the Orange picking up its defensive effort allowing just over 1.5 goals per game in its last six contests.
- This is over 1.2 goals per game less than its season average.
- Overall, Syracuse is allowing under 25 shots on net per game since the calendar flipped to February, down two shots per game on goal as well. Gilligan Named CHA Goaltender of the Month for February
- Goaltender Jenn Gilligan was named the CHA Goaltender of the Month for February this week for helping lead the Orange to the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and posting a 4-0-1 record in five starts.
- Gilligan allowed 23 saves per contest in the month and averaged under 1.6 goals against per game over that span.
- Her play helped lead the Orange from fourth to second in the CHA standings during the month, and she was the netminder for each of the team's games over its five-game unbeaten streak to start the month, which was the second-longest in the nation at that time.
- Gilligan allowed just one goal in four of her five starts last month

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.