PURCHASE, N.Y. – Playoff action returns to the Playland Ice Casino for a third-consecutive year as the Manhattanville College women's hockey team will host their UCHC Quarterfinal contest on Wednesday night when the third-seeded Valiants welcome the sixth-seeded Golden Wolves of Alvernia University to Rye.
   
How We Got Here
The Valiants earned the third-seed for the UCHC Championship Tournament for a third-straight year following a 12-11-2 overall regular season and a 12-6-2 mark in UCHC play. After a rough first half of the season that saw Manhattanville begin January 2-7-1 on the season, the Valiants went on a tear starting in mid-January to win nine straight-games. The hot streak allowed the Valiants to climb the conference standings all the way back into possession of a first round home playoff game, even following a regular season finale sweep at the hands of regular-season champs Rochester last weekend.

As was the expectations with their returns to the ice as graduate students, the Valiants continued to get stellar performances all season long from goalie Franny Gerardi (Yonkers, N.Y./Selects Academy) and forward Gabrielle Cox (Niverville, NY/Ichabod Crane High School). Gerardi became the both the program's career saves and goalie minutes record holder this season and will carry a 2.58 goals-against average with a .923 save percentage into the postseason with a pair of shutouts. Offensively, Cox has once again led the attack with 31 total points, scoring 22 goals with nine assists on the year. She surpassed 100 career points as a Valiant following Manhattanville's series sweep of Stevenson on Feb. 10. Cox leads the entire UCHC in goals entering the postseason.

Cox is one of nine Valiant skaters with at least ten points on the season. Rookie Harper Weisbeck (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) has been a fantastic addition to the Manhattanville attack, ranking second on the team with 16 points (7 G, 9 A). Catrina Chinetti's (Hyde Park, Mass./Boston Latin Academy) eight goals in her sophomore campaign has her second in the Valiant leaderboard behind cox, while Grace Felicio (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) has lit the lamp six times as a senior. Grace Genest (Wake Forest, N.C./The Gunnery (Conn.)) enters the tourney with a team-leading 12 assists.

Making the tournament for the fourth-straight time in their program's five-year history, Alvernia earned the No. 6 seed after an 11-10-4 regular season with a 9-8-3 record in the conference. The Golden Wolves have had a rough second-half of the season, going 3-9-3 since January. Two of those losses came at the hands of the Valiants on Jan. 26 and 27 at the Playland Ice Casino.

Alvernia has fared a much better team on the road this season than at home, going 9-3-0 away from Reading compared to their 2-7-4 record on home ice. The only other team to defeat the Golden Wovles on the road this season was Wilkes, who defeated Alvernia 3-1 in Friday's regular-season finale.

Occupying the crease for the Golden Wolves figures to be Julia Beaven, who has been stellar in her grad year. Beaven sports a .164 goals-against average on the year with a .944 save percentage. Offensively, Julia Franklin has led Alvernia with 21 points off 12 goals and nine assists. Khenzie Connick has also notched 10 goals on the season, while Sydney Bradley's 10 assists leads the team.

Last Time Out
The Valiants took both games in the regular season against Alvernia on Jan. 26 and 27. In the opener, the Valiants got goals from Virginia Birnie (Ontario, Canada/Rosethay Netherwood School), Charlotte Stanwood (West Vancouver, B.C./Penticton Secondary) and Lulu LePage (Swansea, Mass./Elmira College) while Gerardi made 25 saves in a 3-0 shutout win. It was three different goal scorers leading the effort the following day, with Chinetti, Lindsay Reyes (Chino Hills, Calif./SUNY Cortland) and Annie Niedermier (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) lighting the lamp in the 3-1 win. Gerardi logged 24 saves in the victory.

Team Leaders
Manhattanville

• Points: Cox (31), Weisbeck (16), Felicio (15)
• Goals: Cox (22), Chinetti (8), Weisbeck (7)
• Assists: Genest (12), Cox (9), Weisbeck (9), Felicio (9)
• Goals-Against Average: Gerardi (2.58), Hassan-Contreras (0.00), Austin (3.05)

Alvernia

• Points: Franklin (21), Connick (20), Bradley (15)
• Goals: Franklin (12), Connick (10), Ask (5), Bradley (5)
• Assists: Connick (10), Bradley (10), Franklin (9)
• Goals-Against Average: Beaven (1.64), Rodgers (1.93)

History

• All-Time Record vs Alvernia: 6-2-1
• Streak: Manhattanville W2
• Series Record at Manhattanville: 5-1-0
• Last Five Meetings:
  • 1/27/24: Alvernia 1, Manhattanville 3
  • 1/26/24: Alvernia 0, Manhattanville 3
  • 1/6/23: Manhattanville 2, Alvernia 2 (MVL SO W, 1-0)
  • 1/5/23: Manhattanville 2, Alvernia 4
  • 2/21/22: Alvernia 0, Manhattanville 1

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