ASTON, Pa. – The Manhattanville College women's hockey team officially clinched third place in the UCHC regular season standings on Friday night with a 5-1 win at Neumann. The Valiants improve to 13-8-1 overall with the win and 13-5-0 in conference play, earning 39 total points in conference standings. With the No. 3 seed, the Valiants will host the sixth-ranked team in the Quarterfinals of the Conference Tournament on Feb. 23.

A three goal first period put Manhattanville in the driver's seat early. Morgan Miller (St. Augustine, Fla./Gilmour Academy) opened up the scoring 1:33 after the initial puck drop, finishing a series of passes by Kerry Carr (New Hartford, N.Y./Millbrook School) and Charlotte Stanwood (West Vancouver, B.C./Penticton Secondary) to give the Valiants the early lead. Three minutes later, the Miller-Carr connection struck again as Miller collected her second of the night and put the visiting Vals up by a pair. Taylor Ham (Saugerties, N.Y./Millbrook School) got involved at 11:43 with her sixth goal of the season courtesy of assists by Grace Felicio (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) and Laney Nash (Edmonds, Wash./Washington Wild (PNAHA)).

The Knights would get one back before the end of the opening period as Lian Sydorowicz was able to fire a puck home at 13:28, sending the game into the second period with Manhattanville up 3-1. The Valiants would turn up the heat in the ensuing period, firing 14 shots on net in the first 12 minutes of the second. The result was a pair of goals that spelled the end of the night for Neumann's Michelle Winand-Bacon in net. Virginia Birnie (Ontario, Canada/Rosethay Netherwood School) buried a feed from Ana Tittmann (Salisbury, Conn./Housatonic Valley Regional) nine minutes into the frame before Miller struck once again at 12:17, completing her second hat trick of the season on a goal that was once again set up by the duo of Stanwood and Carr.
Emma Swansburg came on in relief for the remaining 27-plus minutes of regulation as was able to silence the Valiants offense, stopping all 20 shots she faced. By that time, however, the damage had been done and Manhattanville was able to close out the win.

In the other net, Franny Gerardi (Yonkers, N.Y./Selects Academy) made 20 saves in a full 60 minutes of action, with the first period goal being her only blemish on the night. The junior goaltender now has 522 saves on the season, tying the program record set by Rose Pijaca in the 2018-19 season.

Manhattanville held a 35-29 faceoff advantage on the night. In addition to her hatty, Miller also led the team with 13 faceoff draws, while Annie Niedermier (Alberta, Canada/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) added 11 wins of her own. The Valiants were 0-for-2 on their power play opportunities, logging four shots, while Neumann was 0-for-4 with five shots on net.

Up Next
The Valiants wrap up the regular season tomorrow, locking up with Neumann once again for a 2 p.m. puck drop.

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