PITTSTON, Pa. – Paz Hassan-Contreras (Lansing, Mich./Okemos) notched a shutout in her collegiate debut while five different Valiants scored goals as the Manhattanville College women's hockey team earned a much-needed victory in Saturday's series finale at King's. The 5-0 win is the Valiants' first victory since Dec. 1 against Arcadia, snapping a five-game skid and improving to 4-9-2 overall and 4-4-2 in the UCHC. The Valiants hold in seventh place in the conference standings with 16 total points.

It was as ideal of a debut as one could hope for Hassan-Contreras, taking duties between the pipes in this one. The rookie stopped all 17 shots she faced while getting plenty of scoring support on the opposite end of the ice to get the Valiants back in the win column. Hassan-Contreras' busiest period would be in the first as she saw eight pucks fired in her direction, standing up to task to hold the Monarchs scoreless.

With Hassan-Contreras settling in nicely, the Valiants opened up the scoring at 6:58 in the first as Jada Mackinnon (Barrington, Nova Scotia/King's Edgehill School) found the back of the net for her first collegiate goal off a picture-perfect feed from Lindsay Reyes (Chino Hills, Calif./SUNY Cortland) behind the net. Mackinnon beat Syd Dahl to the Monarch goaltender's right, tucking the puck in to the top corner to put the Valiants ahead.

Manhattanville carried the 1-0 lead into the second where they would net a pair of insurance goals. The first came on the Valiants' second power play opportunity of the contest after Brighton Wallin was sent off for interference. Passes from Harper Weisbeck (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) and Grace Genest (Wake Forest, N.C./The Gunnery (Conn.)) brought the puck onto the stick of Lulu LePage (Swansea, Mass./Elmira College) atop the near circle. The junior fired a slapshot into the sea of bodies in front of the crease and found paydirt for her second goal of the season at 9:26. Five minutes later, Ciara Dauer (Winchester, MA/Worcester Academy) collected a loose puck in the defensive zone and fired a breakout pass to Weisbeck outside of the Monarch blue line. Weisbeck and Molly Sances (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) went tic-tac-toe after penetrating into the zone, allowing Weisbeck to bury a shot past Dahl for her second point of the day on her fourth goal of the season.

The Valiants added two final goals in the third. In the waning second of a 5-on-3 power play, Erin Flaherty (Rockland, Mass./Canterbury School) got into the scoring column for the first time in her rookie campaign after passes from Annie Niedermier (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) and Taylor Willoughby (Camrose, Alberta, Canada/John Maland) found Flaherty unattended in the far circle. The Rockland, Mass. Native snapped a wrister past Dahl to go up 4-0. Rounding out the team-effort in the closing seconds was Sances getting into the goal column for the first time in her rookie campaign as she collected the rebound off of a Cassidy Elvidge (Durham, Ontario/Post University) shot to score with less than two seconds remaining on the clock. Weisbeck would earn the secondary assist to cap off a three-point performance.

Manhattanville's power play unit finished 2-for-6, firing 12 shots with the extra skater. After surrendering two power play goals yesterday, the Valiant penalty kill shored things up on Saturday by holding King's 0-for-3 with six total shots.

The Valiants held a 34-22 faceoff margin, with Niedermier leading the way with nine draw wins. Grace Felicio (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) and Mackinnon added seven wins each.

Up Next
Manhattanville returns to the Ice Casino for the first of four straight at home on Friday, hosting Lebanon Valley at 7 p.m.

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