Box Score STAMFORD, Conn. - The Manhattanville women's hockey team suffered their second loss in a row on Saturday. Falling to Nichols College by a final score of 4-3, giving up the game-winning goal with 11.8 seconds remaining.
The game started with Sydney Asselstine (Hartington, Ontario/Nepean Wildcats (PWHL)) scoring her eighth goal of the season at the 16:22 mark of the first period, firing a shot to the short side of Nichols senior goaltender Francesca Palazzo. Scoring on their first shot of the game Manhattanville looked to be heading towards an easy W. The first period finished at 1-0 in favor of the Valiants.
The second period saw more spirited play, but it was the Bison capitalizing on their chances. Manhattanville was dominating the play until an odd-man break for Nichols at the 2:28 mark evened the score, as Jordan Fencl tipped home a centering pass junior forward Talia Hohmann. With the Valiants on their heels, the Bison took advantage again just a minute and a half later as the assistant captain, Grace Murphy, fired a shot short side between the legs of Manhattanville's freshman goaltender Dana DeMartino (Massapequa Park, N.Y. /Massapequa ), putting the Bison up by a score of 2-1. The teams continued to trade shots during the period with Manhattanville recording 18 and Nichols recording 12 on the period.
After an almost hour delay in the second intermission, thanks to some horrific zamboni-ing by the Terry Conners Ice Rink crew, the third period got underway. the teams would play two 10 minute has in the third period to make up for the poor ice in one end.
The period was action-packed as the two teams, trading chances, battled fiercely for the victory. Freshman defender Taryn Harris (Morrison, Colo./Colorado Selects), scoring her first goal of the season, fired a puck past Palazzo which ricocheted off the post, off the backside of Palazzo and into the net, trying the score 2-2 with 12:36 remaining in the third.
Less than two minutes later Nichols junior defender Taylor Brown, receiving the puck at the point, rifled a shot over the shoulder of DeMartino giving the Bison a 3-2 ;lead. In a true back-and-forth fashion, the Valiants would even the score once again just over two minutes later as
Alla Traun (Edina, Minn./Minnesota Thoroughbreds (JWHL)) fired a home a rebound off a shot from junior forward
Michele Meggiolaro (Whippany, N.J./New Jersey Colonials (MAWHA)), tying the game at three.
Seeming to be destined for overtime, Nichols made one last push, throwing the puck on net with 13 seconds remaining. After bouncing off the pads of DeMartino, Nichols junior forward Grace Murphy slid the puck into the open net. Just like that, the game was over.
The star of the night was Nichols goaltender Francesca Palazzo who turned away 50 of the 53 shots she faced. DeMartino turned away 26 of the 30 shots she faced for the Valiants.
The loss drops the Valiants to 4-4-1 on the season, givings them a 3-2 record in conference play. Manhattanville will have to regroup quickly as they play Nichols again tomorrow afternoon on the road.
