ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's hockey team opened its final road trip of the season on Friday evening, squaring off against Elmira for the first in five years. The Soaring Eagles got the upper hand in the series opener, defeating the Valiants 9-2 at the Murray Athletic Center.

Elmira (5-18-1, 3-11-1 UCHC) peppered 35 shots on net in the contest, putting two goals on the board in the first. Manhattanville (4-19-1, 3-12-0 UCHC) was outshot 10-9 in the opening frame, with the home side getting goals from Spencer Barrow and Eric Bertelsen.

Elmira pushed the lead to 5-0 with three more tallies over the first 10:37 of the second. Jake Terra, Lucas Stevenson and Brock Macdonald lit the lamp for the home team before the Valiants broke up the shutout at the 12:36 mark on Lucas Baksay's (Fairfield, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) sixth goal of the season, a power play goal assisted by Corey Popowcer (Parkland, Fla./Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) and Lane Paddison (100 Mile House, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)).

The Soaring Eagles continued to find the twine with four straight goals in the first nine minutes of the third, pushing the lead to 9-1. The Valiants got one back at 10:59 with Matthew McCormack's (Bronxville, N.Y./South Kent) second goal of his rookie campaign, scoring from Parker Chadwell (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Bay Juniors (USPHL)) and Jack Cullen (Trumbull, Conn./Charlotte Rush (USPHL)).

William Billequey (Montreal, Quebec/Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) took the loss, allowing seven goals and making 21 saves in 45:02 of ice time. Tripp Clarke (Cazenovia, N.Y./Northern Cyclones (USPHL Premier)) came on in relief for the final 14:48, making fives saves while allowing a pair of goals.

The Valiants dominated the faceoff battle, 39-28. Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)) won 14 draws to lead all players while Caden Eaton (Indian River, Mich./Cornwall Colts (CCHL)) added nine victories.

With 18 penalties handed out in the contest, both teams got plenty of opportunities with mad advantages. The Valiants were unable to make the most of it, finishing 1-of-8 on the power play with six total shots. The Roaring Eagles finished 2-of-4 with five shots.

Up Next
The teams wrap up the 2025-26 campaign tomorrow at 4 p.m.

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