Box Score STAMFORD, Conn. – The Manhattanville women's ice hockey team defeated the Plymouth State Panthers on Friday evening by the score of 5-2 at the Terry Conners Rink in Stamford, Conn. Manhattanville was led by senior Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia), who had a pair of goals for the game including her 60th career tally within the first two minutes of the contest.
 
As mentioned, the Valiants scored out of the gate just 1:50 into regulation as Little received a pass from classmate Erin Sidjak (Delta, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)), and weaved her way towards the goal and sent it past Plymouth State netminder Ali Ponte to put the Valiants up 1-0. For Little, it was goal No. 60, making her the seventh player in program history to reach the milestone and first to do so in five seasons.
 
Less than two minutes later the Panthers took a bench minor for too many skaters on the ice and after a costly turnover deep in the Manhattanville zone gave the puck right away to Plymouth State. After one pass into the slot found the stick of Alysha Raimo, she was able to get it by Manhattanville freshman goalkeeper Victoria Smishek (Regina, Saskatchewan/Notre Dame Hounds (JWHL)), who was making her first career start.
 
With the game tied at one, momentum swung in the favor of the Panthers as they killed off the remainder of their first penalty and the entire two minutes of another. Thirteen seconds later Plymouth State found the back of the net once again as it was Jane Baruch to get the puck into the goal on the individual effort. It was the first time in the nine-game history of the two teams competing against one another, that Plymouth State had held a lead against Manhattanville.
 
The 2-1 edge did not last long though as Little evened up the game at two after redirected a puck that was sent towards the goal by fellow senior Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)). In addition to Schill's assist, junior Caitlyn Beauvais (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)) picked up the secondary helper on the goal that evened up the game at a pair.
 
With time elapsing through the remainder of the first, Manhattanville retook the lead as sophomore Alla Traun (Edina, Minn./Minnesota Thoroughbreds (JWHL)) picked up a pass from senior Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)) from behind the net and planted it home to put the Valiants up 3-2 with 3:50 remaining in the first period. Time expired and Manhattanville skated to the locker room clinging to its one goal lead.
 
The second period went by without a shot finding the back of the net as both Smishek and Ponte denied any threats sent their way. Manhattanville did however dominate in terms of shots at a 19-1 differential, and also went a combined 0-for-2 on the only two power play chances of the period.
 
In the third, the scoring picked back up as this time it was Schill to pick up the puck on a long home run pass from Little deep in her own zone. Schill weaved around the one defender keeping her from the net and backhanded it past Ponte to give Manhattanville a short-handed goal, and its largest lead of the night at two with 5:25 gone by in the third.
 
As time continued to work against Plymouth State, the Valiants continued to control the possession battle as they held the Panthers to just five shots in the third. With 2.6 seconds remaining Beauvais picked up her first goal of the season on the power play after sophomore Aubrey Bachand (Harwichport, Mass./Vermont Academy) dug the puck out of traffic in front of the net and sent it to Beauvais for the put-away tally.
 
The game expired with just the drop of the puck and Manhattanville picked up the 5-2 win over the Panthers. Final shots on goal were well in favor of Manhattanville at a 50-11 differential, and the Valiants were also 1-for-6 on the power play in contrast to Plymouth States 0-for-2 on efforts with an extra skater.
 
Picking up her first career victory was Smishek (1-0-0), as she registered nine saves on the evening. Taking the loss was Ponte (0-3-0) despite making a season-high 45 saves in the losing effort.
 
Manhattanville (5-2-1, 4-0-1 ECAC East) will have a quick turnaround and drop the puck on tomorrow's contest against Southern Maine at 11:30 a.m. Plymouth State (0-5-0, 0-5-0 ECAC East) will have a little bit of a longer break as they travel to Nichols for a 7:40 p.m. start time. Earlier this evening Southern Maine knocked off Nichols by a 5-1 score.