UTICA, N.Y. – For the fourth-straight season, the Manhattanville University women's hockey team is on a crash course with Utica for the UCHC Semifinals. The three-seed Valiants and second-seed Pioneers will meet for the fifth time this season on Saturday afternoon, with a berth in the conference championship finals awaiting the victor as this rivalry gets set to add a new chapter.
  How We Got Here
In the first year of the UCHC's member remodeling, all four teams—Manhattanville, Utica, Nazareth and Chatham—were guaranteed a postseason berth for the 2025 Championship Tournament. The restructuring meant each team would square off against the conference opponents four times apiece over the course of the regular season, allowing the teams to become very familiar with the styles of play awaiting in the potential postseason matchups.

The Valiants secured the No. 3 seed for a fourth-straight season after going 5-7-0 in conference play. Manhattanville swept all four games in the regular season against Chatham, who finished with the No. 4 seed, while taking one of two against Utica on home ice two weeks ago when the Pioneers came to town ranked No. 12 in the nation in both the USCHO and DIIIHockeyNews polls.

Offense has been hard to come by at times for the Valiants this year, as Manhattanville enters the tournament averaging 1.6 goals per game. Manhattanville has been held without a goal eight times this season, but might have turned a corner in February as the Valiants have scored 15 goals across the final six games of the regular season.

Catrina Chinetti (Hyde Park, Mass./Boston Latin Academy / East Coast Wizards) has served as Manhattanville's leading goal scorer, matching her career-high with eight tallies on the year. Katherine Stahl (Middletown, R.I./Middletown) transitioned over to forward from defense this season and developed into another top scorer with her first five collegiate goals. Freshman Ali Joly (Pickering, Ontario, Canada/Dunbarton / Caledon Coyotes) had a stellar rookie regular season, leading all skaters with 11 points on five goals and six assists. Her helper total was only surpassed by Danika Aubin (Guy, Alberta, Canada/Northern Alberta Xtreme (CSSHL)), who had eight en route to her 10-point regular season.

The youth movement has also been prevalent in the Manhattanville net as rookies Olivia Cimorelli (West Deptford, N.J./The Hill School / Ironbound Elite) and Elsa Haakonsen (Trumbull, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall) have looked solid in their freshmen campaigns. Cimorelli has handled the majority of netminding responsibilities, sporting a 3.31 goals-against average with 510 saves across 14 starts. Haakonsen, meanwhile, has been strong since her debut in late January, earning a 3.16 GAA in her six games with 114 saves. The Valiant goalie tandem also features senior Jewells Austin (Bethlehem, Conn./Nonnewaug High School), who has posted a team-best 2.70 goals-against average in seven games.

On the opposite bench are the Pioneers, another mainstay of UCHC postseason play since the conference began in 2017-18. Utica earned the two seed for a fourth straight season with a 9-3-0 mark in conference play. The Pios have been ranked in the USCHO poll every week of the season, climbing as high as No. 7 nationally. Utica ranks No. 13 in the latest iteration of the USCHO rankings, while holding the No. 14 spot in the DIIIHockeyNews poll.

Utica ended the regular season with a pair of dominant performances against Chatham last weekend, outscoring the Cougars 18-0 in the two games. The Pioneers feature the top scoring offense in the UCHC with 104 goals, ranking fifth in the nation. The attack features four 20-point scorers, led by Riley Calhoun with 24. Jordan Koawlski, Carly Stefanini and Kaci Ryder each tallied 20 points on the campaign, with Kowalski netting a team-high 13 goals.

In net, Angela Hawthorne has continued to be one of the top goalies across the UCHC, sporting a 1.19 goals-against average in 25 games, making 523 saves on the season. Teams have only scored more than two goals against the graduate tender four times and is riding an eight-game stretch of holding teams to two or fewer goals. The last team to shoot two past the Santa Clara native? Manhattanville on Feb. 15.

Last Time Out
Utica took three of the four regular season meetings against Manhattanville, but it was the most recent matchup that has the Valiants feeling good entering Saturday. After losing twice to the Pioneers on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 by a combined score of 9-0 up in Utica, the teams met at Playland on Feb. 14 and 15. Manhattanville held the upperhand through two periods in the first meeting thanks to a first period strike by Joly, but the Pioneers rallied for three straight in the third to take the opener 3-1. Manhattanville defended home ice with its biggest win of the season a day later with a 2-1 overtime victory to defeat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2023 and snap an 0-8-1 winless stretch against Utica since the start of the 2022-23 season. Chinetti delivered the heroics with the OT winner, with Abby Mellen (Rockport, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon / Vermont Academy / East Coast Wizards) netting the regulation tally and Cimorelli slamming the door with 38 total saves.

Saturday marks the fifth time the two teams have met in the UCHC Tournament. The programs are tied 2-2 in postseason meetings, although the Pioneers have won both contests in each of the last two UCHC Championships.
Team Leaders
Manhattanville

• Points: Joly (11), Aubin (10), Chinetti (9)
• Goals: Chinetti (8), Joly (5), Stahl (5)
• Assists: Aubin (8), Willoughby (7). Joly (6), Mackinnon (6), Genest (6)
• Goals Against Average: Austin (2.70), Haakonsen (3.16), Cimorelli (3.31)

Utica

• Points: Calhoun (24), Kowalski (20), Stefanini (20), Ryder (20)
• Goals: Kowalski (13), Stefanini (11), Calhoun (9)
• Assists: Calhoun (15), Ryder (13), Mish (13), Barrett (13)
• Goals Against Average: Hawthorne (1.19)

History

• All-Time Record vs Utica: 11-15-2
• Streak: W1
• Series Record at Utica: 6-10-0
• Last Five Meetings (Home team listed second):
  • 2/15/25: Utica 1, Manhattanville 2 (OT)
  • 2/14/25: Utica 3, Manhattanville 1
  • 2/1/25: Manhattanville 0, Utica 2
  • 1/31/25: Manhattanville 0, Utica 7
  • 2/24/24: Manhattanville 1, Utica 5 (UCHC Semifinals)

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