RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's hockey team earned a statement win on Friday night at the Playland Ice Casino, defeating 12
th-ranked Nazareth 2-1 in overtime. The Valiants improve to 10-8-1 on the season with a 10-4-1 mark in UCHC play.
The Valiants handed the Golden Flyers their first conference loss in their last 37 games, as Nazareth had not lost a UCHC game before Friday since February 2020. Nazareth now stands at 13-5-0 overall and 12-1-0 in conference play.
In a highly-anticipated rematch of last season's UCHC Championship, the Valiants and Golden Flyers went into overtime tied at 1-1. As time began to wind down on the extra period, Manhattanville gained possession of the puck in the offensive zone after Nazareth attempted to dump the puck into the neutral zone. The clear was intercepted by
Grace Felicio (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) at the blue line, who would skate the puck behind the Golden Flyer net to allow her teammates to set up shop. Felicio found
Grace Genest (Wake Forest, N.C./The Gunnery (Conn.)) at the line who fired a wrister towards the net. The puck found the stick of
Morgan Miller (St. Augustine, Fla./Gilmour Academy), as the senior deflected the biscuit past McKinley Hoff for her third game-winner of the season and her eighth goal overall with 1:37 left in overtime.
The win is Manhattanville's first regular season victory over a ranked opponent in ten years, with the last win coming back in February of 2013 against a fourth-ranked Norwich squad.
Leading up to the overtime dramatics, Nazareth would take a 1-0 lead at the tailend of the opening period. The Valiants would be assessed a tripping penalty with 1:18 left in the period to send the Golden Flyers on their only power play of the night. It would prove to be a costly one, as with just 17 seconds left before intermission, Olivia Miller-Johnson would beat
Franny Gerardi (Yonkers, N.Y./Selects Academy) to log the power play goal. Makenna Wiljanen and Julia Holmes were credited with assists on the tally.
Gerardi was able to shake off the goal as she stood tall the rest of the night. The senior netminder finished the night with 39 saves as she was able to keep the reigning conference champions off the board for the remainder of the contest.
It seemed for a moment in the second period that Nazareth was able to sneak another one past Gerardi in the second as with 6:21 expired in the frame, Ally Watrous collected the puck in a traffic jam in front of the Valiant net and slipped it past the senior goalkeeper. However, the goal was quickly waved off by the officials following a call of a hand pass on the ice, keeping the game at a 1-0 score.
Gerardi would be credited with eight saves in a scoreless second while the Valiants tried to find an answer to Hoff on the other side of the ice. After just three shots in the first, Manhattanville fired six pucks on next in the second but the Nazareth netminder turned them all away to protect the one goal lead heading into the third.
The Valiants would finally break through in the third after Miller-Johnson was sent to the box for a body check, brining the Valiant power play unit onto the ice for the second time on the night. Despite an unsuccessful attempt in the first period, the extra skater paid off after
Holly Meredith (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Vermont Academy) threw the puck towards the front of the net. As traffic crashed the crease, Felicio was able to cash in as she knocked the loose puck in 2:28 into the period. The goal would be the junior's third of the year.
Nazareth fired 16 shots in the final period of regulation to try and reclaim the lead but Gerardi had other plans on the night. The Valiants had nine shots on goal across the final 20 minutes of regulation but were unable to find the game-winner in regulation, setting up the overtime theatrics.
The Valiants went 28-21 on the faceoffs, with Miller leading the effort with 11 wins.
Annie Niedermier (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) also had a strong night on the dot with nine draw wins to four losses.
Gerardi finished with 39 total saves on the night as she continues to have a phenomenal year in the crease. The senior now holds a 1.78 goals-against average with a .941 save percentage over her senior campaign.
Up Next
The weekend series concludes tomorrow as the Valiants and Golden Flyers square off once again. Puck drop at the Playland Ice Casino is set for 2 p.m.
