Box Score Boxscore
RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's ice hockey team took to the ice on Friday night looking to extend their three-game winning streak on the season and their 13-game winning streak over the Spartans, but both streaks came to an end with the game ending in a scoreless tie as Manhattanville took 48 shots over the 65 minute contest.
During the opening frame Manhattanville was given a pair of power play chances and failed to capitalize on either on them despite dominating the period as a whole. In the period, Manhattanville outshot their guests by a 12-2 margin and looked well on their way to continue the trend in the second period.
In the second, the Valiants again were given a power play chance and produced five shots on the skater advantage but again with no luck finding the back of the net. The penalty kill unit of the Valiants was also put to the test for the first two times in the game and held the Castleton power play unit in check throughout the period. After two periods of play the Valiants had a 25-11 edge in shots.
Entering the third period still scoreless, Manhattanville began to control the play just as they had done in the first period. The offense continued to rack up the shots including several great scoring chances that were produced by the combination of juniors Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) and Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia) who both had solid offensive games combining on nine shots.
The duo thought they had a goal with 17:51 remaining in the third frame as Taylor made her way into the offensive zone and took a point-blank shot on Castleton goalie Paula Stephens, the rebound was loose in front and Little sent it into the hands of a diving Stephens, who then collided with Little sliding backwards into the goal with the puck crossing the plane of the goal line. Little began to celebrate what would have been her tenth goal of the season and the goal light went on to signal that the puck crossed the goal line, but the referee waved the tally off the board and play resumed.
The tilt continued all the way through the remainder of regulation as play was once again in favor of Manhattanville as they finished a regulation with a 42-16 margin in shots. Overtime began with the Valiants picking up where they left off in peppering Stephens. Manhattanville was given a golden opportunity with 3:46 when Castleton took a penalty and then another less than a minute later to give the Valiants a 5-on-3 advantage for the final 26 seconds of the bout. The Spartans played defensive hockey for the overtime period and didn't take a shot while settling for the tie and the one point against their hosts.
In goal for the Spartans, Stephens made all 48 saves on the shots Manhattanville was able to muster against her. Her counterpart, sophomore Mary Evans (Ferndale, Mich./Honeybaked (TOEHL)) stopped all 16 shots sent her way as both goalkeepers earned their first ties of the season.
Manhattanville (10-7-3, 8-3-2 ECAC East) will get right back to action tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. when they host the Pilgrims of New England College, with game coverage available on GoValiants.TV. Castleton (6-12-1, 5-7-1 ECAC East) will also be back in action tomorrow at 4:40 p.m. when they take on Nichols in Harrisville, R.I.
