Box Score Boxscore
RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's ice hockey team defeated the Southern Maine Huskies on Friday night by the score of 4-0 at the Playland Ice Casino in Rye, N.Y. With the victory and the two points, Manhattanville clinched the second seed in the upcoming ECAC East Conference Tournament.
After skating to a 0-0 tie with the Huskies back in December, Manhattanville looked to get off to a hot start and did just that as junior Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)) picked the top corner of the cage just 2:24 into the contest to give the Valiants the early 1-0 lead. Assists on the goal were credited to junior Jessica Kehoe (Kemptville, Ontario/Nepean Wildcats (PWHL)) and senior captain Hannah Muskego (Neilburg, Saskatchewan/PWM Steelers (AMMFHL)).
Less than three minutes later on the power play, senior Jackie Solomito (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Niagara University (CHA)) got on the board as she sent the puck into traffic in front of the cage that deflected off of a Southern Maine player and into the back of the goal for Solomito's second tally of the season from juniors Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)) and Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)). For Taylor, it was her team-leading 11th of the campaign.
In the first period Manhattanville ended up outshooting their guests by an 8-3 margin and kept it up in the second period. Just 22 seconds into the second stanza, junior Erin Sidjak (Delta, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)) intercepted a pass in the offensive end of the ice and sent a floating shot towards the left post that found its way past Southern Maine goalkeeper Liz Bergstrom.
The goal scoring didn't stop there as junior Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia) got in on the scoring frenzy and scored her team-leading 12th goal of the season after the initial shot bounced off of Bergstrom leaving a rebound that Little sent home to cap off the scoring at four. Her goal was assisted by the defensive pair on the ice, junior Lauren Nutkevitch (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College) and freshman Rachael Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Sound Shore Warriors (MAWHL)).
During the second period Manhattanville went 0-for-3 on the power play, while picking up a game-high 10 shots in the frame. Southern Maine only mustered four shots and went 0-for-1 on their own power play chances in the second.
In the third period Manhattanville played cautiously to not turn the puck over as they tried to keep the shutout in tact for junior goalkeeper Emy Cote (Saint-Hubert, Quebec/Dawson College). The Valiants outshot their opponents 5-2 in the third period, as Southern Maine ran out of gas as they were playing with four fewer skaters than Manhattanville.
The game totals in terms of shots were in favor of the Valiants by a 23-9 margin. On the power play Manhattanville went 1-for-7 while collecting nine shots with the extra skater, including Solomito's goal. Southern Maine struggled to get any offense going even with the extra skater as three of their shots came on their seven power play chances.
Making nine saves in the win was Cote who improves her record to 6-7-2 with a chance to break even at .500 tomorrow night when she gets the starting nod on senior night. Bergstrom took the loss to fall to 6-9-4 while making 19 saves along the way.
Manhattanville (12-8-4, 10-4-3 ECAC East) will look to polish off the regular season against Plymouth State at 4:00 p.m. Prior to the puck dropping, the team will honor graduating seniors Cote, Muskego, Nutkevitch and Solomito with all the festivities and call of the game available on GoValiants.TV. Southern Maine (6-14-4, 6-9-2 ECAC East) will look to rebound and avoid their 10th conference loss when they travel to take on Nichols at 4:40 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
In clinching the No. 2 seed in the ECAC East Tournament, Manhattanville will either play either UMass Boston or Nichols in the quarterfinal round on February 25. The game will start at 3:00 p.m. and will also be covered on GoValiants.TV.
