Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – The No. 8 Manhattanville women's hockey team picked up a big ECAC East Conference victory as they defeated the St. Anselm Hawks in a 3-2 win on Friday evening from the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. The win puts Manhattanville alone in second place in the ECAC East standings, as the teams make their final push through the final weeks of the season.
 
The game didn't start off in Manhattanville's favor as the Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a power play goal off the stick of Rosemarie Giarrusso at 9:37 of the first period. The Valiants took another penalty later in the period and were able to hold off the Hawks as the two sides skated to the intermission with the score in favor of the home team.
 
Manhattanville didn't need much time in the second period to even up the game as senior Jessica Kehoe (Kemptville, Ontario/Nepean Wildcats (PWHL)) won the draw, line mates Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) and Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia) did the rest of the work. Taylor threw the puck into the slot for Little, who sent it past Hawks' netminder Janice Michaud to knot up the game at one apiece.
 
The game remained tied through the bulk of the second period as it was evenly matched throughout; shots for the second period were only 11-9 in favor of St. Anselm. More importantly, the Hawks were next to find the back of the net as well when Giarrusso picked up her second of the night, sneaking it past junior goalie Mary Evans (Ferndale, Mich./Honeybaked (TOEHL)) to make the lead 2-1.
 
It took just ten seconds for Manhattanville to tie the game once again as sophomore Aubrey Bachand (Harwichport, Mass./Vermont Academy) won the neutral zone draw, and skated to the right wing, throwing it towards the net in the process. The puck ticked off of Michaud, and trickled across the goal line to even the game at two. For Bachand, it was her first goal of the season, coming in the unassisted variety.
 
Just 40 seconds into the third period and the Valiants were awarded a penalty, and soon capitalized on the chance to take their first lead of the evening. After senior Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)) blasted a shot from the top of the zone, the large rebound came out to classmate Sonia Occhionero (Montreal, Quebec/Kent School (Conn.)), who took the shot and put the Valiants up 3-2.
 
The Valiants needed to hold off St. Anselm through the remainder of the contest, and the Valiants limited the Hawks to nine shots. Seniors Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)) and Erin Sidjak (Delta, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)), while sophomores Michelle Meggiolaro and Trenah Stauffer (Salmon, Idaho/Colorado Select (JWHL)) all blocked shots, while Evans handled the rest to give Manhattanville the come from behind victory.
 
In the end it was Evans to come away with the win to improve to 7-5-1 on the season, while stopping 20 shots sent her way. Taking the loss was Michaud, who  made 16 saves and allowed the three Valiant markers while falling to 5-2-2 on the year.
 
Both teams took three penalties apiece, and each side converted on one of their three power play chances. Final shots were in favor of the Hawks, at a 22-19 margin.
 
With the win, Manhattanville (11-6-1, 9-1-1 ECAC East) leapfrogs over St. Anselm and now stand alone in second place with 19 points heading into the back-end of this weekend's doubleheader at UMass Boston, starting tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. St. Anselm (11-4-3, 7-2-3 ECAC East) hosts Nichols tomorrow, also at 1:00 p.m. Earlier this evening the Beacons and Bison tied 2-2 in Boston.