Jenn Gilligan’s wide smile disappeared. She closed her eyes and groaned. She didn’t want to think about it.

“That whole game haunts me, to be completely honest,” Gilligan said.

Syracuse’s 7-2 loss against undefeated Boston College on Dec. 10 left a bad taste in the goalie’s mouth before the Orange went on a three-week break. The senior allowed five goals in 24 minutes of action before SU head coach Paul Flanagan pulled her from the game.

But since Syracuse resumed play, Gilligan has allowed just 1.2 goals per game in January and has three shutouts in her last five starts. Her play has helped ease the Orange (11-12-3, 7-3-2 College Hockey America) into the heart of conference play. SU travels to play Mercyhurst (11-9-4, 8-2-2) on Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m, and could jump the Lakers for first place in the CHA by winning each contest.

“You can see how well she covers up loose pucks, directs rebounds and moves the puck up ice,” Flanagan said. “She’s playing confidently. When push comes to shove, we need her playing well.”

Last Saturday, Gilligan saved 14 shots against conference rival RIT for her fourth shutout of the season. Her first scoreless performance of the month came against Union, where she had 20 saves. Gilligan even shut out Mercyhurst on Jan. 15 for the program’s second-ever win against the Lakers.

But In Syracuse’s final six games before the team’s hiatus, she allowed just over two goals per game while surrendering four goals per game against ranked opponents. Though Gilligan usually tries to shake off a bad performance by focusing on her next matchup, she kept pondering the loss to B.C.

“Being on break, you have the opportunity to sit there and think about it,” Gilligan said. “There were definitely days over break where I just sat there and thought about it for hours.”

Following that tough stretch of opponents, Gilligan knew she had something left to prove. SU tied then-No. 10 Colgate, 2-2, in Gilligan’s first game back. The contest gained some of Gilligan’s confidence back.

Now she only has eight regular-season games left in her college career, and her recent six-game stretch has helped her put the past behind.

“When you have good games, you take away the positives, and when you have bad games, you try to learn from the negatives,” Gilligan said. “You’re not really focusing on what happened the night before, you’re focusing on what’s next.”

While she can handle smaller losses with ease, Gilligan still has meltdowns following losses to bigger opponents, which she calls “inevitable.”

Flanagan hopes that Gilligan has become “battle-tested” from Syracuse’s harsh nonconference schedule, but he knows that Gilligan can struggle after losses. Instead of acknowledging her struggles head-on, he usually waits until the following week to address prior losses with her. Gilligan’s teammates know that the goalie can manage things just fine by herself.

“She’s in her own zone,” SU defender Megan Quinn said. “She’s got a mental prep for herself. We all prep differently, but I feel like she’s one of those people who preps on her own.”

Flanagan thinks that the goalie position is one that requires a lot of maturity. And he knows that he has a goalie he can rely on.

“If you have a bad period or a bad game, you have to move on,” Flanagan said. “I’d say she’s done really well in that category.”

Published on January 28, 2016 at 7:54 am

Contact Chris: cfthomse@syr.edu