HENNIKER, N.H. – The Pilgrims attempted a furious comeback in the final two minutes, but the Manhattanville College women's ice hockey team held on for a 3-2 win and a season sweep of the New England College to extend their conference win streak to three games Friday evening inside the Lee Clement Arena.
 
Manhattanville outshot New England 40-9 on the night, controlling the action for most of the night.  Junior Maeve O'Brien (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) scored her first goal of the season in the win, and sophomore Nicole Mensi (Mamaroneck, N.Y./SUNY Plattsburgh) scored her team leading 12th of the year as well.  Junior Cassie Kent (Lake Placid, NY/Northwood) scored the game-winner on her second goal of the year in the final minute to lead the Valiants past New England College.  Kent also added an assist in the win, and fellow classmate Melissa Stys (Pequannock, N.J./The Kent School), along with freshman Janet Xu (Edmonton, Alberta/Ontario Hockey Academy) and sophomore Morgan Wilm (West Chester, Pa./Millbrook Mustangs) each added an assist as well.  Between the pipes, sophomore Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) stopped nine shots on the night to earn her fifth win of the season, staying unbeaten against NEHC opponents this year. 
 
The Valiants once again took control of the contest early in the opening period, potting the game's first goal just 1:23 into the contest when O'Brien scored unassisted to put the Valiants up 1-0 in the early goings.  Midway through the frame, the Valiants struck again when Mensi tickled the twine with her team leading 12th goal of the season, with Xu and Wilm picking up the assists on the second goal.  Manhattanville smothered the Pilgrim attack in the first period, allowing just three shots on goal as they held the early shot advantage 15-3 at the first intermission.
 
The crimson and black continued their dominating play in the second period, pounding Pilgrim netminder Jacqueline Clark with 15 more shots but were turned away each time, unable to find the back of the net in the second stanza.  The Valiant defense also stood tall, allowing just two New England shots in the period, holding a 30-5 advantage in shots on goal at the final intermission.
 
Manhattanville once again continued to cruise in the third period, continuing to put the pressure on New England for the first 15 minutes of the frame.  Things got exciting in the final three minutes however, as the Pilgrims cut the deficit in half with a goal from Rachel Vigliano with the extra attacker on the ice with 1:35 remaining.  Manhattanville responded less than a minute later when Kent scored on the empty net with less than a minute to play to make it 3-1.  Just as things looked to be out of reach, the Pilgrims scored again on the power play with ten seconds to play to make it 3-2.  Another penalty was assessed to Manhattanville after the play, but it was too little too late as the Pilgrims ran out of time on their comeback attempt, and Manhattanville took over sole possession of the two seed in the NEHC. 
 
With the win Manhattanville improves to 10-6-1 on the year, 8-2 in NEHC play.  New England slips to 5-12-1 for the season, 3-7 against conference opponents.  The Valiants will look to extend their conference win-streak to four games tomorrow when they play host to the Ravens of Franklin Pierce University in the first leg of a Valiant hockey doubleheader at Playland Ice Casino beginning at 3:00 pm.