HERSHEY, Pa. – The Manhattanville College women's hockey team picked up a convincing victory in United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) play Friday night, Nov. 22, defeating Lebanon Valley College on the road by a score of 6-0. Junior forward Tianna Lopes (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)) finished with four points, including a hat-trick, while senior forward Janet Xu (Edmonton, Alta./Ontario Hockey Academy) notched a trio of assists in the winning effort.

The Valiants (4-2-1, 4-0 UCHC) ­­started off the game strong, outshooting the Flying Dutchmen (1-4-1, 1-2-1 UCHC) 10-1 in the first period. However, neither goaltender game up a blemish in the first 20 minutes and the game remained scoreless heading into the first intermission. Manhattanville broke through with another dominant period in the second and scored twice with less than six minutes remaining until the third period to take a 2-0 lead into the lockerroom.

With neither team scratching the scoreboard, the Valiants found themselves in an advantageous powerplay opportunity just over 14 minutes into the second. Following a tripping call, the Crimson and White got right to work and junior forward Taylor Ham (Saugerties, N.Y./Millbrook School) scored to make it 1-0 – assisted by senior blueliner Ali Howard (Rye, N.Y./Rye). With time winding down in the period, the Valiants doubled their lead with a score from Howard herself this time, assisted by senior forwards Amanda Sabia (Freehold, N.J./The Gunnery) and Brayden James (Denton, Texas/Dallas Stars Elite (EHL)).

Up 2-0, Manhattanville wasted no time in scoring its third of the game, this time from Lopes – assisted by Xu – to make it 3-0 just over 30 seconds in. Sabia scored her first and only of the night next – assisted by Lopes and Zu – immediately following a strong penalty kill from her team. The Crimson and White struck two more times before the end of the game. A second goal from Lopes was next – assisted by junior forward Ashley DeFusco (Cranston, R.I./La Salle Academy) and sophomore defender Laney Nash (Edmonds, Wash./Washington Wild (PNAHA)) – with 7:26 remaining in the game. Lopes closed out the night's scoring with yet another goal to clinch the hat-trick at 17:32 – assisted by Xu and DeFusco – and the score was now 6-0.

Making 10 saves between the pipes, rookie netminder Lena Flores (Chicago, Ill./Guerin College Prep) picked up her first-career collegiate victory on the night. She helped lead the Valiants to their fourth UCHC win of the season in as many conference games. She and the rest of her squad will return to action tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, Nov. 23, when they put their perfect UCHC record on the line in a 3:40 p.m. meeting with Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pa.