PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – Senior netminder Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) stopped a season-best 43 shots in her final game as a collegian but the fourth-seeded Manhattanville College women's ice hockey team's 2018-19 season came to an end following a hard-fought 3-2 loss at No. 1 seed Elmira College Saturday afternoon, March 2, in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) semifinals.
 
The Valiants (17-8-2) trailed the Soaring Eagles (23-2-1) 1-0 after a neck-and-neck first period in which each team had a multitude of scoring opportunities. After Elmira scored just 00:35 into the contest, each team traded shots, but midway through the period, Pijaca came up with a huge save to keep it a one-goal game. Just seconds later, the Valiants had a rush of their own and sophomore forward Tianna Lopes (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)) had a great look at the net but pinged one off the post.
 
After the first intermission, Manhattanville came out of the locker room on fire. With 6:27 gone, senior captain forward Nicole Mensi (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Northwood School) ripped a slapshot from the slot but was turned away by the Elmira goalie. The rebound was gobbled up by junior Amanda Sabia (Freehold, N.J./The Gunnery). The Valiant forward took the puck behind the net and punched in the wraparound attempt to even it at 1-1 – out of the seven All-Tournament honorees, Sabia represented the Valiants. A little over two minutes later, Elmira was called for hooking at 8:16 to put Manhattanville on the man-advantage and 00:45 into the powerplay, junior blueliner Ali Howard (Rye, N.Y./Rye) let go a howitzer from the top of the zone right into the back of the net and the Valiants now led 2-1 with 10:59 left in the period.
 
The Soaring Eagles were able to put two on the board later in the second at 13:59 and 18:45 and took the 3-2 lead into the second intermission. Despite several scoring opportunities for the Valiants in the third, Elmira was able to hold on and will play the winner of tonight's other semifinal contest between No. 2 Nazareth College and No. 3 William Smith College.
 
For Manhattanville, the program bids a final farewell to its foursome of seniors – Pijaca, Mensi and assistant captains Morgan Wilm (West Chester, Pa./Millbrook School) and Ellis Smith (Buffalo, N.Y./Niagara Junior Purple Eagles (WNYAHL)). Together, they totaled nearly 360 career games (355) as Valiants.
 
Highlights:

• Pijaca finishes her career with 29 victories and is the program's all-time leader in saves and minutes played by a goalie.
• Mensi closes out her time as a Valiant with 84 career points, 49 goals and 35 assists in just three seasons with the program.
• Wilm leaves Manhattanville with 105 games played, the most of any current Valiant, as well as 29 career points.
• Smith is not far behind with 94 games played and scored her first-career goal earlier this season.
• Head coach David Turco's 17 wins this season made him just the second in program history to amass over 100 for his career. He is now just 11 away from tying the all-time mark of 114.
• As a team, Manhattanville finishes the season with a stellar penalty kill of 91.4 percent.