PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's hockey team will travel to Northfield, Vermont for the third time this season as part of the ECAC Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The second seeded Valiants will play as the home team when they take on the third seeded Pilgrims of New England College at 12:00 p.m on Saturday afternoon.
The Valiants reach the semifinals for the 11th straight season since joining the conference prior to the 2000-01 season and look to make a run at the championship as the second seed for the second straight year. The team's current record is 14-8-4 as they look for their 15th win of the season, which they have achieved every year of the program's history. New England enters with an 11-12-3 record and will look to get back to the .500 mark on Saturday against the Valiants.
Manhattanville defeated the UMass Boston Beacons in the quarterfinals last weekend by the score of 2-0 as junior Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia) scored her team-leading 14th goal of the year in the second period. Her power play goal was assisted by classmates Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) and Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)). Freshman Alla Traun (Edina, Minn./Minnesota Thoroughbreds (JWHL)) added her third goal of the season on the empty net to seal the win and punch the Valiants' ticket to the Kreitzberg Arena this weekend.
In goal is junior Emy Cote (Saint-Hubert, Quebec/Dawson College) who had an easy night against the Beacons with 15 saves in the quarterfinal win, the defending ECAC East Tournament MVP has eight wins, seven loses and a pair of ties during her final season with the team. In last year's semifinal matchup Cote made 11 saves against UMass Boston before making a career high 42 in last season's title game against host Norwich.
Also amongst the team leaders in goals with Little are Schill, junior Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)) and sophomore Haleigh Hutchinson (Allen Park, Mich./Honeybaked (TOEHL)) who have eight goals apiece. In terms of helpers, Manhattanville is led by Taylor with 13 and junior defender Lauren Nutkevitch (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College) with 10 of her own. Senior Jackie Solomito (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Niagara University (CHA)) and juniors Jessica Kehoe (Kemptville, Ontario/Nepean Wildcats (PWHL)) and Sonia Occhionero (Montreal, Quebec/Kent School (Conn.)) are the next closest to double figures in points with nine each.
For New England College, they are led by senior Kaleigh Costello and freshman Madyson Moore who scored the game-winner in double overtime against Southern Maine in the Pilgrims' quartferinal win last weekend. Junior defender Sam Hippern and sophomore forward Alexis Fitzpatrick round out the players with double-figures in points.
In the other semifinal game, top-seeded Norwich who cruised past Nichols last weekend will play host to fifth seeded Castleton State at 3:30 p.m. Castleton defeated Salve Regina in their quarterfinal matchup by a 3-2 score.
Norwich has had an impressive year that saw the team stay ranked within the top two spots of the USCHO.com poll all season long after winning the National Championship last season. This year the team has accumulated a 23-2-1 record having been led by 2011-12 Player of the Year Julie Fortier who led the league with 26 goals and 49 points this year.
Fortier is joined by ECAC East Rookie of the Year Kaycie Anderson who had a great freshman campaign with 21 goals and 21 assists. Junior Jillayne DeBus also had 42 points while five other players eclipsed the 30 point mark this year. In goal, Norwich has sophomore Kelly Fisk who is 16-1-1 this year with a 1.27 goals against average.
Meanwhile Castleton has junior Jade Werger with double-figures in points with 13 goals and six assists to lead the Spartans this season, six of her goals have been game-winners for Castleton's bounce back season that saw the team finish with a 10-13-2 overall record. In goal, junior Katharyn Dembowski played the bulk of the games with a 5-8-0 record while freshman Paula Stephens also had five wins against six loses and a pair of ties.
The winners of both semifinal games will meet at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in the ECAC East Championship, with the winner receiving the league's automatic qualifying bid to the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Saturday's game can be heard live on WMVL 88.1 FM and GoValiants.com as WMVL will have the free audio call of all Manhattanville games this weekend. The games will also be streamed online at no charge courtesy of the Northeast Sports Network.
