COLCHESTER, Vt. – Five goals in the opening period by the Manhattanville College women's ice hockey team pushed their conference win streak to five games as they took down the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College 6-3 in New England Hockey Conference Friday evening inside Cairns Arena.
 
Sophomore Nicole Mensi (Mamaroneck, N.Y./SUNY Plattsburgh) added to her league-leading goal total Friday, scoring two goals early in the first period to push her total to 16 for the season. Senior Lindsay Diot (Bethel, Conn./Boston Shamrocks), and juniors Kristi Peters (Newport Beach, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks), Karly Kapur (Sparta, N.J./N.J. Colonials), and Cassie Kent (Lake Placid, NY/Northwood) added a goal apiece. Kapur led the team in points with three, adding two assists, and freshmen Janet Xu (Edmonton, Alberta/Ontario Hockey Academy) and Amanda Sabia (Freehold, N.J./The Gunnery) added two assists as well. Sophomore Morgan Wilm (West Chester, Pa./Millbrook Mustangs) picked up a point with an assist along with fellow classmate Kat Reilly (Holbrook, N.Y./Boston Shamrocks (JWHL)). Sophomore netminder Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) stopped 24 shots to remain unbeaten in NEHC play, and Abby Burke and Tina Frasca combined to stop 33 shots for Saint Michael's.
 
Once again the Valiants lit the lamp in the opening moments of the game, scoring on the opening shift when Mensi deked around defenders to score her 15th of the season just 25 seconds into the contest to give the Valiants the lead. Just a few moments later, Mensi tickled the twine again to double the Valiant lead just four minutes in.  The lead was short lived however, as the Purple Knights responded with two goals of their own off the sticks of Madison Nichols and Carolyn Avery, tying the score 2-2 with 11:04 to play in the opening frame.
 
The Manhattanville offensive surge continued in the opening stanza however, tallying three more goals before the end of the frame to take a commanding 5-2 lead into the locker room for the first intermission. Peters helped the Valiants retake the lead with her fourth goal of the season to make it 3-2, 3:23 after Saint Michael's tied it up. Kapur continued her hot offensive streak by scoring her seventh goal of the season, taking a centering pass and beating Burke inside the right post, and Diot capped off the scoring as the assistant captain netted her fourth of the year, deflecting in a shot from Reilly for the three-goal edge after one period of play.
 
The Purple Knights responded with a single goal in the middle period, coming off the stick of Erin Dwyer to cut the Valiant lead down to two goals. The Saint Michael's goal came with 14:04 remaining, and Frasca kept the Purple Knights in the contest, as she stopped all 12 Valiants shots in the frame.
 
 The crimson and black continued their impressive play in the final period, outshooting the Purple Knights 12-8 in the final 20 minutes. Pijaca settled in nicely after surrendering the third goal to Saint Michael's, stopping all eight shot in the final frame to hold off the home squad.  A late goal by Kent sealed the deal for the Valiants as they came out on top 6-3, keeping ahold of the number two seed in the NEHC postseason standings.
 
Manhattanville improves to 10-2 in conference play with the win while Saint Michael's falls to 3-9 in NEHC action. The Valiants will have a huge test tomorrow when they travel to Saint Anselm to battle with the first-place Hawks with puck drop scheduled for 1:00 pm.