After weeks of anchoring Syracuse’s offense, forward Melissa Piacentini soared into the Orange record books this weekend against rival Mercyhurst.

With her team facing a two-goal deficit late in the second period on Saturday afternoon, she fought to position herself well in Laker territory. Nicole Renault quickly fired a pass over to Piacentini, who didn’t hesitate when getting the puck in her hands.

Piacentini didn’t attempt to show off her ability to score at will. Instead, she sent the puck over to Margot Scharfe, who executed on the open lane en route to a goal.

“Melissa kind of chipped the puck so it ran on my stick,” Scharfe said. “And I tried to have a little patience to put it in.”

Piacentini’s assist extended her point streak to eight consecutive games. That ties the longest streak in the program’s history, which was first set by Isabel Menard in 2009-10.

When asked about the new milestone, Piacentini was satisfied with the streak. But with Syracuse (14-11-2, 6-6-2 College Hockey America) losing the weekend series against Mercyhurst (17-7-3, 10-3-1 CHA) — 3-2 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday — her recent success was put on the back burner.

“It’s great, but I have to put it away when it really matters, like at the end of the game today,” Piacentini said.

Piacentini also capped off a new program record when scoring a goal on Friday night, extending her streak to seven consecutive games with a goal scored.

With the Orange trailing 2-0 in the second period, Piacentini’s style of play matched the toughness provided by the Mercyhurst defense. She found an open spot near Lakers’ goalie Amanda Makela, which put her in an ideal position to receive the oncoming puck from Allie LaCombe.

That provided her with the chance to launch the puck past Makela and provide the Orange with the opportunity to compete down the stretch.

While Piacentini’s goal streak ended on Saturday, head coach Paul Flanagan was pleased with her taking the record.

“She’s been pretty consistent,” Flanagan said. “For her, that gives you confidence to feel you can go out and not only get one every night, but now you can get hungry and go out and get a couple (goals).”

This record-tying streak by Piacentini is a product of her consistent effort. She has emerged as the most consistent offensive threat during the past month for the Orange.

Scharfe said that Piacentini deserves all of the accolades as a result of her hard work.

“It’s great. I’m really happy for Tini,’” Scharfe said. “Every game she works hard and she deserves the recognition.”

As Piacentini earned the two different records over the weekend, her personality on and off the ice did not change at any point of either game.

But individual performance does not trump the overall success of the team in her mind, especially with a month remaining in the regular season.

Julie Knerr wasn’t aware of the program records that Piacentini matched over the weekend, based on her teammate’s calm attitude about the recent success. Knerr is hopeful that Piacentini will carry over the recent momentum into the last few weeks of the year.

“It’s awesome for her, and it doesn’t even faze her at all,” Knerr said. “She doesn’t even show that she has that streak. We’re pumped for her and want her to keep it going.

“It’s pretty cool for one of our teammates to do it that way.”

Published on February 3, 2014 at 2:50 am