Box Score Boxscore
WORCESTER, Mass. – The Manhattanville women's hockey team led by a score of 2-0 but allowed two third period goals and settled for a tie against the Holy Cross Crusaders on Saturday afternoon at the Hart Recreation Center. Junior
Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia) opened the scoring on the afternoon by scoring her 50th career goal at 16:32 of the opening period.
In the first period Manhattanville outshot their opponents by a 10-9 margin, the difference in the shot count was also the difference in the goal scoring as Little notched her team-leading 11th goal of the season with 3:28 to go in the frame. Her goal was assisted by linemate Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) who notched her team-leading 10th helper.
For Little it was her 50th career goal, making her the 12th player in Manhattanville women's hockey history to reach the half-century plateau. She is the second player to reach the mark in as many seasons after Holly Nonis '11 reached the milestone on January 21 of last season against Plymouth State.
In the second period Manhattanville took a pair of penalties through the first 4:01 of the period but neither resulted in goals for the Crusaders. Manhattanville took a third penalty at 16:21 which gave Holy Cross another chance, but the Valiants were able to capitalize instead on the shorthanded chance as junior Sonia Occhionero (Montreal, Quebec/Kent School (Conn.)) notched her second goal of the season with the assist being credited to Little.
In the second period Manhattanville outshot their hosts by a 13-6 differential for a 40-minute total of 23-15. They also carried their 2-0 lead into the third looking to hold onto the victory.
In the third, Manhattanville began on the penalty kill after a late second period infraction carried over. Just 23 seconds into the period Holy Cross sliced the lead in half as Francesca Panarelli snuck one past sophomore goalie Mary Evans (Ferndale, Mich./Honeybaked (TOEHL)) for a power play goal.
Holy Cross continued to draw penalties sending Valiant players to the penalty box, and when sophomore Mallory Watts (Bloomfield, Mich./Honeybaked (MWEHL)) went off for checking at 14:35 it gave the Crusaders a chance to tie the game. Holy Cross used 1:09 of the extra skater time before finding the back of the net in which they tied the game at two.
The two sides skated five aside through the final 4:16 of regulation with Manhattanville still having a slim 29-26 edge in shots through 60 minutes of play. In the overtime period Manhattanville added two more to their game total, both of which were stopped by Carly Dominick-Sobol who ended the day with 29 saves. Evans was required to make one stop in the extra session, giving her a game total of 25.
Manhattanville (11-8-4, 9-4-3 ECAC East) picks up the one point and clinches a top four seed in the ECAC East Conference Tournament, guaranteeing the Valiants a home game in the quarterfinals on February 25. Up next for the Valiants is Southern Maine on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. with game coverage available on GoValiants.TV. Holy Cross (17-2-3, 13-2-1 ECAC East) will play next Friday against St. Michael's in South Burlington, Vermont at 4:00 p.m. Holy Cross, as a Division I institution is not eligible for play in the ECAC East Tournament but will play in the ECAC East Open Tournament on February 25-26.
