PURCHASE, N.Y. – Following a convincing first-round victory over Neumann on Wednesday night, the Manhattanville men's hockey team will look for a repeat of last season as the fourth-seeded Valiants travel to top-seeded and national #14/15 Utica for the ECAC West Conference Tournament semifinals, which will take place on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
 
Tickets for the game are $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for students (with college ID) or children 18 years old or younger. Tickets are available only at the Aud box office or through Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/259). Fans that can't make it upstate for the game can watch live on www.Empire8.TV, listen to live audio on www.espnur.com , or follow the live stats available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/utica/mhockey.
 
Manhattanville (13-11-2, 5-8-2 ECAC West) and top-seeded Utica (15-6-4, 10-4-1 ECAC West) will meet in the weekend's second semifinal on Sunday afternoon. Second-seeded Elmira (14-10-1, 9-5-1 ECAC West) will host third-seeded Hobart (14-8-4, 7-5-3 ECAC West) in the weekend's other semifinal on Saturday night in Pine Valley.

The Valiants are making their 15th consecutive appearance in the ECAC West Tournament and have reached the semifinal round for the 14th time over that span. Manhattanville is 12-10 all-time in the conference tournament, but is an excellent 11-5 in the last nine seasons and has won four ECAC West Tournament titles (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010) during that time. Utica, meanwhile, is 2-10 all-time in conference tournament play and has lost eight straight ECAC West Tournament games since a 5-3 win over Manhattanville way back on March 3, 2006.
 
Manhattanville and Utica have met four times in the ECAC West Tournament, with the Valiants winning three of those four contests. The meeting is a repeat of last year's ECAC West semifinal, in which the fourth-seeded Valiants upset the top-seeded Pioneers in Utica, 2-1, on an overtime game-winner from then-sophomore Paul Sirignano (St. Catharines, Ont./Thorold Blackhawks (OJHL)).
 
Utica won two of the three meetings between these teams during the regular season. The Pioneers earned a close 2-1 win over the Valiants at Terry Conners Rink way back in November, and the teams split a pair of contests just last weekend at the Aud. Utica posted a 5-3 win on Friday night despite a three-point game from senior co-captain Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)), but Manhattanville came back for an impressive 3-1 victory on Saturday night.

Manhattanville advanced to the semifinal round with a convincing 5-2 win over Neumann on Wednesday night in Stamford. Freshman Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)) had two goals and an assist and senior Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) had a pair of tallies in the commanding victory, in which the Valiants posted a 42-22 edge in shots. Junior Jake Mooney (Toronto, Ont./North York Rangers (OPJHL)) also had three points on a goal and two assists, while Van Natter added a pair of helpers.
 
Manhattanville continues to be led offensively by Van Natter, an All-Conference first-team pick who has moved up to 11th in Division III and is tied for the conference lead with 32 points so far this season on a conference-best 15 goals and 17 assists. Mooney and Rivera also continued their strong regular-season play into the postseason, as Mooney ranks second on the team with 12 goals and 28 points while Rivera, an All-Conference honorable mention, has 27 points on 11 goals and 16 helpers.
 
Junior assistant captain Anton Racklin (Gothenburg, Sweden/Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL)) was named the ECAC West Co-Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Conference first-team pick this week and remains one of the top scoring defensemen in the country. With seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points, he ranks second in Division III and first in the ECAC West in scoring among blueliners and also leads the conference in assists. Waugh also moved above the 10-point mark with his three points on Wednesday, ranking second among Valiant defensemen with 11 points this year on four goals and seven assists.
 
In goal, senior Alex Scola (Exeter, N.H./Woodstock Slammers (MJHL)) is also an All-Conference honorable mention and has started nine straight games. He brings a 10-7-2 record, a 2.73 goals against average and a .901 save percentage into Sunday's semifinal.
 
The Utica offensive attack is paced by ECAC West Player of the Year Trever Hertz, who has a team-best 25 points on eight goals and 17 assists this season. Fellow senior Ridge Garbutt leads the team with 11 goals and has added 12 assists for 23 points, while classmate Jon Gaffney is also over the 20-point plateau with nine goals and 12 assists this season as an All-Conference honorable mention.
 
The Valiants will also face an All-Conference netminder for the second time this week, going against All-ECAC West first-team pick Nick Therrien. The senior is 12-4-2 with a 2.16 goals against average and .922 save percentage in 19 starts this year, leading the conference in GAA, save percentage and winning percentage.
 
The winner of this weekend's games will advance to the ECAC West Tournament Championship game, which will take place on Saturday, March 8 at the home of the highest remaining seed.