PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the eighth time in three seasons the Manhattanville women's hockey team will be heading to Kreitzberg Arena in Northfield, Vt. Which also includes three consecutive trips for the ECAC East semifinals. The second seeded Valiants will be set for the rubber match of a three-game set this season against the fifth seeded UMass Boston Beacons at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Valiants reach the semifinals for the 12th 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 third straight year. Manhattanville enters with a 17-8-1 record including victories in eight of its last 10 contests. Meanwhile, UMass Boston comes in with just one win in its last six contests and a 9-13-4 overall mark.

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. All four women's games this weekend will also be streamed online at no charge courtesy of the Northeast Sports Network.
 
Earlier this year the Valiants and Beacons met twice in Boston including the ECAC East Conference opener back on November 2, a game in which the Valiants won by a score of 4-1. Later on in the season on January 26 the Beacons took the second matchup of the year by a 5-3 to even the season series at one apiece.
 
Manhattanville enters its semifinal matchup off of a 5-0 victory over the seventh seeded New England College Pilgrims on Friday afternoon, which saw five different Valiants find the back of the net including seniors Jessica Kehoe (Kemptville, Ontario/Nepean Wildcats (PWHL)), Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia), Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)), Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) and sophomore Aubrey Bachand (Harwichport, Mass./Vermont Academy). Earning her third shutout win of the year is 2012-13 ECAC East Goalie of the Year Mary Evans (Ferndale, Mich./Honeybaked (TOEHL)), who stopped 11 shots for the victory.
 
The Beacons enter off an upset victory over fourth seeded Castleton on Saturday afternoon by the score of 5-3. UMass Boston took an early 3-0 lead, but Castleton came back with three unanswered to knot the game up after two periods of play. Alyssa Sullivan netted the go-ahead, and Emily LaRosa added one more for good measure to ice the victory in which ECAC East Rookie of the Year Casey Schaejbe made a career-high 49 saves for her first postseason win.
 
The Valiants and Beacons are no stranger to one another in the postseason as well, having most recently met in the quarterfinals a season ago (a 2-0 win for Manhattanville) and meeting in the semifinals during the 2011 ECAC East Tournament, a 2-1 win which propelled the Valiants to their most recent conference title a day later against Norwich.
 
The two teams have met 23 times in program history with Manhattanville having most of the control of the series with a 21-2-0 mark all time against the Beacons, including a 3-0 mark in the playoffs. More recently the Valiants are 5-2 in the seven most recent meetings with the Beacons.
 
Manhattanville has nine players enter the weekend with double-figures in points, led by Little with her team-leading 12 goals and 26 points. Morrison is first on the team in assists with 16 and second on the team with 22 points. Fellow senior Sonia Occhionero (Montreal, Quebec/Kent School (Conn.)) is second on the team in goals with 10, including six by way of the power play. Senior Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)) and sophomores Alla Traun (Edina, Minn./Minnesota Thoroughbreds (JWHL)) and Michelle Meggiolaro are tied for the team lead with three game-winning goals each.
 
The strong defensive unit led by Evans in goal has allowed just 47 goals in 26 games this season good enough for 1.80 goals allowed this season. Individually Evans has accumulated a 12-6-1 record, with a 1.84 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Evans alongside of fellow All-Conference selection Erin Sidjak (Delta, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)), pave the way for a young and successful defensive unit.
 
On the other side of the ice, the Beacons have seven players entering this weekend with double-figures in points as LaRosa brings her team-high 17 points to the game on 8 goals and 9 assists. Leading the way for UMass Boston in terms of goals is sophomore Emily Howard, who has 10 goals while playing in all 26 games for the Beacons this year.
 
So far this season the Beacons have been outscored by a 58-77 margin this season, but the numbers may not be as accurate as appear as UMass Boston has the All-Conference Second Team goalie Schaejbe between the pipes. Schaejbe finished the year with a 5-9-2 record with a .902 save percentage and a 3.07 GAA.
 
In the other semifinal matchup the top seeded Norwich Cadets (20-3-3) will take on sixth seeded Southern Maine (8-12-6). The matchup will take place at noon on Saturday as the first of two tickets to be punched for the ECAC East Championship game on Sunday, March 3.
 
The Cadets enter off of a 6-0 quarterfinal victory over the Plymouth State Panthers on Saturday, in the game ECAC East Player of the Year and national scoring leader had two goals to give her 29 on the season. Jillayne DeBus also netted a pair of goals and picked up an assist in the shutout victory.
 
Norwich's offense is second nationally in goals scored (124) and also second in goals per game (4.77), while their defense is fourth in goals allowed after a season that saw them yield 38 goals in 26 games. In goal the Cadets have split time between Loren Carrier (11-1-2) and Kelly Fisk (8-2-1), while the three Norwich goalies have a combined 90.6 save percent and a 1.45 goals against average heading into the weekend.
 
Looking to knock off the Cadets are the Southern Maine Huskies, who enter off an upset victory by a 5-2 score over the Salve Regina Seahawks on Saturday. Leading the Huskies in the win was senior Kailey Bubier, who netted a hat trick in their quarterfinal victory.
 
Bubier leads the way in terms of goals and points as well for her squad with 11 goals and 16 assists. Freshman Cassandra Sherman has seven goals and five assists, while sophomore Julia Pearl has five goals and a team-leading seven assists.
 
The shorthanded Huskies only have 15 skaters and have been outscored at a 47-72 margin, but like UMass Boston, Southern Maine has a strong young netminder in sophomore Liz Bergstrom who has accumulated a 7-8-4 record with a 2.57 GAA and a 90.8 save percent to keep the Huskies in games this season.
 
The winners of both semifinal games will meet at on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in the ECAC East Championship, with the winner receiving the league's automatic qualifying bid to the 2013 NCAA Tournament.