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HAMILTON – Colgate head coach Greg Fargo warns against reading too much into Tuesday's final nonconference tuneup against Syracuse.

The Raiders lost 2-0 on a pair of second-period goals, but Fargo is convinced his squad is well prepared for the final 12-game push to the ECAC Hockey playoffs.

"We're back into ECAC Hockey play for the last 12 games and I like it," Fargo said. "These are important games and it's going to be a sprint to the finish.

"We're fighting tooth and nail to get into the playoffs, but every game means something and our team knows that."

First up for Colgate are this weekend's visits to Starr Rink by Harvard (12-2-2) and Dartmouth (4-12-1). The Raiders host the Crimson in a Friday night start at 7 o'clock, and then play the Big Green at 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon.

"Despite the result tonight, I do like how our team's been playing here lately," Fargo said. "We're kind of coming into our own. We're going to take a day off and then get back to work Thursday and be ready to go for this weekend."

Two-Goal Strike
After a quiet first period, Syracuse scored twice in a 2-minute span of Tuesday's second stanza to sweep the season series from Colgate and improve to 11-9-2 this season. Syracuse won the opener 2-1 back in late November.

The Orange goals this night in front of the Time Warner Cable Sports cameras came from Melissa Piacentini during a 5-on-3 advantage and Eleanor Haines at even strength.

Piacentini's goal was the result of the puck deflecting off her shin pad in front of the net. Nicole Renault fired a shot from the right point and it hit Piacentini. The puck fluttered over the shoulder of Colgate goalie Ashlynne Rando like a field goal try and dropped inside the far post with 11:08 on the clock.

The next tally for Syracuse came exactly two minutes later. Haines collected a rebound off Rando above the crease and beat the outstretched glove of the Colgate netminder to make it 2-0. Sadie St. Germain and Laurence Porlier set up the play with two shots during a rush that Rando stopped, but Haines found a way to put the puck in the net.

Rando finished with 31 saves.

"She was pretty strong for us," Fargo said of his sophomore. "I liked how she fought through some traffic in front to find the puck. To me that's a sign of her being on her game.

"I know she's coming off a couple of up-and-down games of late, but it was nice for her to get back and see the puck really well tonight. I'm happy for Ashlynne and, hopefully, she can keep going in that direction."

Fast Start – Almost
Colgate had some near-misses but couldn't slide the puck past Syracuse's Jenesica Drinkwater, who stopped all 24 Raider shots.

Rachel Walsh (pictured right) nearly scored in the first period for Colgate. She was battling in front of the cage and the puck came off the pads of Drinkwater and Walsh's skate was there, but she pushed it wide."

The Raiders fired 13 shots at Drinkwater in the final 20 minutes but couldn't break through and dropped to 5-15-2 this season.

Colgate won the faceoff battle, 29-26, led by Walsh and Taylor Craig with 10 wins apiece. Walsh finished with five shots on goal, Cat Quirion had four, Miriam Drubel three and Craig, Melissa Kueber and Katie Case adding two apiece.

The Raiders were 0-of-5 on the power play to Syracuse's 1-of-4.

"Depending on how you look at it, there are a lot of positives," Fargo said. "We came off a game where we liked how we played Saturday at Penn State, and we felt like going into this game that would help us. We were coming off a game and they (Syracuse) had an extra day off.

"Sometimes when you have too much time off, you have a little bit of a feeling-out period at the start of a game. We wanted to jump right into it. Unfortunately, we didn't get the start we wanted."

Fargo also welcomed the return to Starr Rink after playing away from home ice for 44 days.

"Everything's a little bit different regardless of what rink you go into, whether it's in or out of conference," he said. "To sleep in our own bed, get up and skate on our own ice, it's always a pleasure to be back in Starr Rink.

"With some important games coming up, we'll take the home-ice advantage for sure."

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