RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's hockey team captured a long-awaited first home win of the 2023-24 season on Friday night, defending the ice of the Playland Ice Casino in a 5-1 victory over Lebanon Valley. The Valiants have now scored five goals in back-to-back games as the team improves to 5-9-2 overall and 5-4-2 in the UCHC, climbing a spot in the conference standings to sixth.

Entering the night 0-5-1 at the home barn, the Valiants looked to carry the success they had found in last week's series finale against King's that marked their first win of 2024. The Flying Dutchmen had other plans to open up the contest as Anna Dale was able to sneak a shot past Franny Gerardi (Yonkers, N.Y./Selects Academy) in the Manhattanville net to account for the lone scoring of the first period. The Valiants fired 13 shots on net in the period but were unable to find the equalizer against Lebanon Valley netminder Mia Frisoni through the opening 20 minutes.

Manhattanville fired a response 4:43 into the second as the offense began to buzz. Grace Genest (Wake Forest, N.C./The Gunnery (Conn.)) and Virginia Birnie (Ontario, Canada/Rosethay Netherwood School) both fired shots towards Frisoni, and while the rookie netminder was able to stop the both, the second save popped out to Charlotte Stanwood (West Vancouver, B.C./Penticton Secondary) who was able to bury the rebound to tie the game up at 1-1. Birnie and Genest would each be credited with an assist.

Lebanon Valley had a golden opportunity to go back in front midway through the period as back-to-back penalties charged to Birnie and Lulu LePage (Swansea, Mass./Elmira College) saw the Dutchmen on an extended 5-on-3. With penalties costing the team a week ago in the opener at King's, the Valiant penalty kill shined in the face of the challenge, successfully blanking LVC and allowing just three total shots.

The momentum of the kills was enough to tilt the ice in the favor of the home team for the rest of play. While the score held steady at 1-1 entering the final 20 minutes, Manhattanville scored four times in the third to firmly secure the win. After Girardi made a beauty of a stick save to snuff out LVC's scoring threat to start the period, Harper Weisbeck (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) struck at 3:12 from Catrina Chinetti (Hyde Park, Mass./Boston Latin Academy) and Ciara Dauer (Winchester, MA/Worcester Academy) for the go-ahead goal following a Dutchmen turnover, Weisbeck's fifth of the season as she found the back of the net for a second-consecutive game. Just 15 seconds later, the Valiants struck again with Birnie firing home a shot via Genest.

The Valiants continued to roll as a body checking call sent Brenna Mulcahy to the box and put Manhattanville on their third power play of the night. The home team needed just one shot to score with the advantage, as passes from Taylor Willougby and Gabrielle Cox (Niverville, NY/Ichabod Crane High School) brought the puck onto the stick of a diving Grace Felicio (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional), notching her fourth of the season on a beauty of a sequence. Annie Niedermier (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) capped off the night with a wraparound goal at 14:39, goal number four for the junior.

Gerardi was her usual dominant force in the Manhattanville crease as she finished the night with 35 saves. She now sports a 2.74 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 13 games.

The Valiants went 31-24 on the faceoffs for the night, led by 16 wins by Niedermier.

Manhattanville's power play finished 1-for-3 with five shots while the PK blanked Lebanon Valley, 0-for-4, with nine shots.

Up Next
Game two of the series gets underway at 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Ice Casino.

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