As a freshman against Robert Morris in 2008, Megan Skelly added onto her list of Syracuse firsts when she raced down the side boards, took a pass in front of the net from Lisa Mullan and buried SU’s first-ever power play goal in the opening period.

‘Most of my goals freshman year were a blur,’ said Skelly, now a senior. ‘It’s just surreal when you realize that you’re here and finally contributing.’

Four years later, Skelly and the rest of the SU seniors will play their last two home games this weekend at Tennity Ice Pavilion when the Orange (9-16-3, 0-3-3 College Hockey America) take on conference rival Robert Morris (14-8-2, 3-2-1), with the first game coming on Friday at 7 p.m. SU snapped its nine-game winless streak last weekend at Quinnipiac with a 3-2 win. The players will need to feed off that momentum and keep their emotions in check as they try to capture their first conference win.

‘There will be a little bit of sadness, but we’re going to want to play our hearts out,’ Skelly said. ‘We’ve struggled a bit with conference games, so this is going to be a big weekend.’

Syracuse desperately needs to pick up points if it wants to avoid a probable matchup with Mercyhurst. The Lakers (18-5-1, 4-1-1) are on a steady path to notch the top seed in the conference tournament. The Orange has never beaten Mercyhurst, or ‘the evil empire,’ as Flanagan calls them.

Although the pressure to win on senior weekend is mounting, Mullan said she and the other seniors — Skelly, Taylor Metcalfe and Stephanie Jones — won’t let their pregame emotions get the best of them. Rather, they will put that emotion into their play on the ice.

‘We have to put some of those emotions aside before the game, but we also need to use that to our advantage,’ Mullan said. ‘Everyone has to rally together and do it for the seniors so we can win our last two home games.’

The Orange plans to stay loose and control those emotions with its regular game of dodgeball in the locker room before each home matchup. The defenders line up against the forwards after an active warm-up on the ice. Flanagan said that the activity, though strange, builds camaraderie.

‘We’re going to miss (playing dodgeball) for sure,’ Skelly said. ‘That was definitely the best part of our warm-up.’

Despite all the extra emotion that will be flying around the arena against Robert Morris, Flanagan said his team will have to be extra sharp during ‘read-and-react’ situations. Without a lot of time to react on the ice, the players have to be instinctive and react to certain situations, Flanagan said.

During SU’s 3-2 win over Quinnipiac last Saturday, freshman Nicole Ferrara made a quick decision that helped SU to victory. The forward smartly slashed past two oblivious Bobcats defenders, received a pass from Holly Carrie-Mattimoe and fired a rocket past the goaltender for the game-winning goal.

Flanagan said those types of situations can make or break the outcome of a game. And SU will have to make those plays to send the seniors off with a win in their final home series.

When Skelly suits up for her final two games as a member of the Orange, she said she will turn to the freshman players and tell them how quickly four years can go by — just as she was told by fellow teammates during that 2008 season. But even more importantly, she will tell them to appreciate every moment.

‘It’s the last time we get to play at home, the last time we get to dress in our locker room and wear our white jerseys,’ Skelly said. ‘So it’s going to be emotional, but we want to go out with a bang.’

awmirmin@syr.edu

Published on February 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm