BUFFALO, N.Y. — Emily Costales couldn’t look up and had her gloves over her face. Alysha Burriss casually skated to accept her award and without emotion returned to her team on the blue line. Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan calmly talked to his assistant coaches as his head faced the ice and then at the team that beat his on the other blue line.

Syracuse (19-14-3, 14-4-2 College Hockey America) lost a 4-3 heartbreaker in overtime against Mercyhurst (19-10-5, 14-3-3) in the CHA tournament final. The Orange scored two goals in the game’s final three minutes on goals by Allie Munroe and Burriss. Grossi scored SU’s first goal. The loss snapped Syracuse’s eight-game win streak.

The game would be the last for Syracuse’s most successful senior class that included CHA Player of the Year Melissa Piacentini.

“It’s a weird feeling (that this is the last time donning a Syracuse jersey),” Piacentini said “I don’t think it’s really hit me yet, but I’m sure it will in the future.”

As one award-winning class leaves another is ready to takeover. Sophomores Burriss and Grossi, as well as freshman Munroe, were named to the All-Tournament team and others have improved throughout the year.

“They are very ready to take the reigns,” Piacentini said. “The underclassmen, this year they really led this team (at times). There is a lot of leadership on and off the ice with that group.”

Flanagan acknowledged how much success this senior class had but also pointed out his disappointment of not winning a conference tournament.

“There is a tremendous amount of disappointment in (the locker room), our upperclassman have been in two overtime losses in a row in a championship game. But you got to kind of revel in the fact that you got in those championship games … it’s going to sting for a while.”

Flanagan echoed Piacentini in that the underclassman are hungry for next year and will thrive and be a part of a new core based off of their improvement this year. Dakota Derrer in particular impressed Flanagan.

“But Dakota, she is just like an old fashioned defenseman out there. She is blocking shots and getting everything out (of the zone). You don’t notice her a lot. She doesn’t carry the puck up a lot, but she was awesome tonight. She’s only a sophomore.”

Munroe has learned a lot from the senior class and expressed gratitude to their influence on not only the team but also herself.

“We’re pretty hungry to win next year,” Munroe said. “ The girls that are coming back, even the seniors, want us to win. The offseason is going (to begin) soon for sure.”

“We wanted that championship and it was heartbreaking to see them (Mercyhurst) all celebrate.”

Published on March 6, 2016 at 1:06 am

Contact Jake: jafalk@syr.edu