GENESEO, N.Y. – Coming off a dominant opening round win on Wednesday, the Manhattanville University men's hockey team is headed upstate for the UCHC Semifinals on Saturday. The third-seeded Valiants are back in the semis for the third time in four seasons as the second seeded Knights of Geneseo await their arrival at the Ira S. Wilson Arena.
  How We Got Here
After an early exit in last year's UCHC Championship, the Valiants were determined to reestablish themselves as a formidable team in the changing conference landscape. Playing its first home playoff game in two years, the mission was accomplished on Wednesday night. Manhattanville toppled sixth-seeded SUNY Brockport at the Playland Ice Casino by a final of 4-1 to send the buses up to Geneseo, the team's fifth win over the Golden Eagles this season. The Valiants took an early lead five minutes into the contest thanks to Ryan McKenna's (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)) fifth goal of the season before adding an insurance tally from Lane Paddison (100 Mile House, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) seven minutes into the second. Brockport sliced the deficit in half before period's end, but a pair of Manhattanville goals in the first 2:11 of the third by Mitchell Watson (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) and Elijah Devereaux (Webster, N.Y./Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NA3HL)) was more than enough for the Valiants to secure the win.

William Billequey (Montreal, Quebec/Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) was not tested too often but was able to stand tall in the face of the Brockport attackers, stopping 20 of the 21 shots he faced. The sophomore goaltender will carry a 2.45 goals-against average with a conference-best .932 save percentage into Saturday's tilt.

Geneseo has been recognized as one of the top teams in the country all season long, ranked in the USCHO poll in every week during the season with its ranking climbing as high as No. 2. The Knights and Utica Pioneers had been battling for the top seed in the UCHC all season long, splitting a pair of games in the penultimate weekend of the season to head into the final two games tied in the standings. The Pios won both games against Manhattanville while Nazareth was able to pull off a 7-4 upset over the Knights on the final day of the regular season to drop Geneseo into the second seed to lead to the semifinal matchup that awaits this weekend.

The Knights led the conference in scoring this season with 120 total goals, good for 4.8 goals per game. Zach Purcell has been Geneseo's top goal scorer with 15 tallies on the season, trailing only Manhattanville's Nicholas Rogers (Broad Channel, N.Y./Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NA3HL)) (18) in the conference this year. The Knight tandem of Peter Morgan and Filip Wiberg both rank in the top five in the UCHC in total points with 29 and 27, respectively. Morgan enters Saturday with the third-highest points per game rate in the conference at 1.16.

Geneseo has split goaltending duties this season between Jacob Torgner and Adam Harris, both playing two games against the Valiants this season. Torgner is tied with Billequey for the second-best goals-against average in the conference this season, sporting a 2.45 with 290 saves, while Harris carries a 2.51 GAA with 364 saves.

Last Time Out
The teams met four times in the regular season, and while the Knights swept the matchups, the Valiants were in all but one game to the final horn. After Geneseo took the opener 7-2 back on Nov. 15, Manhattanville hung with then sixth-ranked team in the nation in a 2-1 loss.

Geneseo then came to Rye at the end of January as the fifth ranked team in the country and squeezed out a pair of one goal victories, 5-4 and 4-3. The finale needed overtime to decide a winner as Tommy Winn delivered the winning strike to cap off a comeback victory for Geneseo. Despite the regular season tilts not going in their favor, the Valiants have seen they can keep up with a lethal Knight offense and will be looking to pick up its first win over Geneseo since 2009.

Postseason History
Despite being Geneseo's first season calling the UCHC home, the two teams did meet in the postseason previously back in 2019. In Manhattanville's most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament, Geneseo brought an end to the Valiants' season in an 8-2 victory that marked the last time the teams had met prior to the Knights moving in to the UCHC this season.

Team Leaders
Manhattanville

• Points: Rogers (24), Mateichenko (24), Hoins (21)
• Goals: Rogers (18), Hoins (8), Mateichenko (6), Paddison (6), Devereaux (6)
• Assists: Mateichenko (18), Hoins (13), Paddison (13), Popowcer (13)
• Goals Against Average: Billequey (2.45), Woods (3.49), Clarke (5.17)

Geneseo

• Points: Morgan (29), Wiberg (27), Panchisin (26)
• Goals: Purcell (15), Dameski (13), Wiberg (12)
• Assists: Morgan (19), Panchisin (17), Melso (16)
• Goals Against Average: Torgner (2.45), Harris (2.51)

History

• All-Time Record vs Brockport: 3-6-1
• Streak: L5
• Series Record at Geneseo: 2-3-1
• Last Five Meetings (Home team listed second):
  • 2/1/25: Geneseo 4, Manhattanville 3 (OT)
  • 1/31/25: Geneseo 5, Manhattanville 4
  • 11/16/24: Manhattanville 1, Geneseo 2
  • 11/15/24: Manhattanville 2, Geneseo 7
  • 3/16/19: Manhattanville 2, Geneseo 8 (NCAA Quarterfinals)

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