RYE, N.Y. – Freshman Amanda Sabia (Freehold, N.J./The Gunnery) tickled the twine twice Friday evening, helping the Manhattanville College women's hockey team past Nichols College 5-1 in New England Hockey Conference action inside Playland Ice Casino.
 
Sabia netted the third and fifth goals for the Valiants Friday, moving her season total up to six in her rookie campaign. Senior Kayley Romano (Viera, Fla./Boston Shamrocks) found the back of the net for the first time this season, and juniors Cassie Kent (Lake Placid, NY/Northwood) and Jennifer Machin (Brunswick, Maine/North Yarmouth Academy) added a goal apiece in the win. Romano also added an assist and fellow seniors Lindsay Diot (Bethel, Conn./Boston Shamrocks) and Taryn Harris (Morrison, Colo./Colorado Selects), along with juniors Kristi Peters (Newport Beach, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) and Sarah Sinning (Southold, N.Y./National Sports Academy), sophomore Kat Reilly (Holbrook, N.Y./Boston Shamrocks (JWHL)) and freshman Zoey Pellowitz (Arlington, Va./Washington Pride) added assists as well. In goal, senior Olivia Drew (York, Maine/Portland Jr. Pirates) need 15 saves to earn her fourth victory of the season while Cassandra Goyette stopped 43 Valiant shots on the night for the Bison.
 
It was all Valiants throughout the night with the home squad outshooting the visitors 48-16, and took command in the faceoff circle, winning 39 of 54 draws in the contest. Just under seven minutes into the contest, Sinning fired a shot on the power play that was saved by Goyette, but the junior corralled her own miss and fired a second-chance shot that was deflected in by Romano for her first goal of the season and first of the contest. Just 48 ticks later, Kent netted her fourth of the season, intercepting a pass and beating Goyette to make it 2-0 Valiants, a lead they took into the locker room.
 
Manhattanville dominated the second period of plat, outshooting Nichols 21-4 in the frame. Sabia lit the lamp with her first goal of the game just over three minutes in, putting home a rebound off an initial shot once again by Sinning for the game's third goal. Despite getting just four shots on target in the middle stanza, the Bison did find the back of the net for their only goal when Kirsten Sullivan's shot deflected off of Drew and trickled across the goal line to make it 3-1 midway through the period. Both team pushed a puck across the line the rest of the way in the second and the crimson and black took a two-goal lead into the locker room for the final intermission.
 
Just three minutes into the third period, Sabia found the back of the net once again, taking a breakout pass from Pellowitz and buried a wrist shot just inside the near post for her second of the night. Machin put the exclamation point on the win with 5:40 remaining; knocking home a rebound in a wide-open net after Goyette stopped initial shots from Peters and Romano.
 
The Valiants improve to 14-6-2 on the season, 11-2-1 in conference play while the Bison fall to 1-20-1 on the year and 1-13-0 in league play. The Valiants will have a huge NEHC battle tomorrow when they host the Crusaders of the College of the Holy Cross for a matinee matchup beginning at 3:00 pm at Playland Ice Casino.