PURCHASE, N.Y. – After a successful ECAC East Conference schedule, the Manhattanville women's ice hockey team clinched the second seed and will host the UMass Boston Beacons in the ECAC East Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. from the Playland Ice Casino in Rye.
Manhattanville finished the season with an 13-8-4 (11-4-3 ECAC East) record, with the 25 points placing the Valiants in the second spot behind under first year head coach David Turco. UMass Boston finished the year with a 7-14-3 (5-11-2 ECAC East) record, earning the Beacons and second-year coach Colleen Harris the seventh seed in the tournament.
This will be the third meeting this season between the Valiants and Beacons this season, with Manhattanville earning a pair of victories. On November 4 Manhattanville opened up their conference slate with a 3-0 win over the Beacons in Boston, and followed that up with a 4-1 win on January 28. All-time the Valiants have won 19 of the 20 games that the two squads have played against one another, outscoring the Beacons 117-23 over the course of nine seasons.
In the playoffs, Manhattanville has a rich pedigree in the ECAC East Tournament, winning eight of 10 ECAC East Championships since joining prior to the 2001-02 season, going 18-2 in playoff games over that time span. The Valiants have made the NCAA Tournament eight times in program history, including last season, by winning the conference's automatic qualifying bid. In three all-time playoff matchups against UMass Boston, the Valiants are undefeated after beating the Beacons in the semifinals in 2003-04, 2005-06, and 2010-11.
Anchoring the goal for Manhattanville in both victories was junior captain Emy Cote (Saint-Hubert, Quebec/Dawson College), who stopped a combined 42 shots in the pair of victories (21 in each game). This year she has a 7-7-2 record with a 2.16 goals against average and 90.5 save percentage, playing in 973:40 minutes of ice time. Cote already has an ECAC East Tournament Most Valuable Player award under her belt for her outstanding playoff play in last year's conference tournament, including a career-high 48 saves in the championship game against Norwich. For her career, Cote is amongst the Manhattanville all-time leaders in net, as she is in fifth place with 27 career wins and sixth place in terms of shutouts as she has eight for her career.
Helping out Cote in her own zone is a defensive unit that has been dominant of late holding their last two opponents to a total of 18 shots in the pair of wins last weekend. The group is led by junior Lauren Nutkevitch (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College), who is among the league leaders in scoring defenders as she has accumulated three goals and 10 assists this year. The junior defensive pairing of Sonia Occhionero (Montreal, Quebec/Kent School (Conn.)) and Erin Sidjak (Delta, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)) provide strong defensive play with occasional offensive bursts as well. The young pairing of sophomore Mallory Watts (Bloomfield, Mich./Honeybaked (MWEHL)) and freshman Trenah Stauffer (Salmon, Idaho/Colorado Select (JWHL)) have also played very well with one another and look to do so for years to come.
The offense for the third straight season is led by junior Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia), who leads the team with 13 goals and 21 points this year. Linemate and classmate Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) has been racking up the assists since moving to center and currently leads the team with 12. Also amongst the offensive leaders is sophomore Haleigh Hutchinson (Allen Park, Mich./Honeybaked (TOEHL)), who is tied with Taylor with 15 points this season, including eight goals. Juniors Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)) and Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)) have also had successful campaigns picking up 14 points (8G, 6A) each.
Meanwhile for the Beacons, they are led by junior Emily LaRosa, who has picked up six goals and 10 assists to lead her team. Former Valiant Tori Pizzuto is second on the team with 13 points while anchoring the Beacon defense. Freshman Kayla Kiernan and sophomore Katie Loiselle finish out the UMass Boston scorers who have at least 10 points this year.
Senior Leah Hallett primarily tends the cage for UMass Boston, and has a 4-13-1 record this season while holding opponents to 2.41 goals against average and a 92.9 save percentage in 869:42 minutes of ice time.
All ECAC East Conference Tournament quarterfinal games will be taking place this Saturday. In other action, top-seeded Norwich will host #8 Nichols at 3:00 p.m., #3 New England welcomes #6 Southern Maine at 1:00 p.m., and #4 Salve Regina plays host to #5 Castleton State at 7:30 p.m.
The puck drops in Rye at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon against UMass Boston, with the live video broadacast available on GoValiants.TV and live stats available here. For fans attending the game, tickets are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for non-Manhattanville students (with valid ID). All Manhattanville students that bring their student ID will get in free courtesy of the Manhattanville Athletic Department.
The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the conference semifinals on March 3 before the championship game takes place on March 4. Those games will all be held at the home rink of the highest remaining seed.
