RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's ice hockey, ranked first in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) South Division standings, picked up a dominant 7-1 UCHC Quarterfinal victory over #4 Chatham University today, Saturday, Feb. 29. Senior defender Ali Howard notched five assists while her classmate Amanda Sabia notched a hat trick and an assist.
The Valiants (16-7-3) got out to a bit of a quiet start as the Cougars (8-15-2) held the home squad off the scoreboard for the majority of the first period before senior Janet Xu finally broke through with just under nine minutes remaining to make it 1-0, with assists by sophomore Laney Nash and Howard. That would be the only goal of the period, as Manhattanville outshot Chatham 11-5 in the first 20.
The second period saw just one more goal as well. This time it came when Manhattanville was on the 5-on-4 penalty kill. The Valiants were doing a good job killing off the 2:00-minor to junior Taylor Ham when junior co-captain Tianna Lopes broke through the neutral zone and zipped it past the Chatham netminder – assisted by fellow co-captain senior Zoey Pellowitz and Howard once again – to make it 2-0 just four minutes into the period.
It wasn't until the third period that the Valiants began to put their foot on the gas. A much deeper roster, Manhattanville was able to outlast Chatham before the home squad's stamina allowed them to pour in five goals in the final 20 minutes. Sabia began with her first of the game following lots of traffic in front – assisted by senior Brayden James and Lopes – to make it 3-0 at just 1:54 in. Not to long after, James got one of her own – assisted by Sabia and Howard – by wripping a wrister past the Cougar goalie to make it 4-0 at 7:26.
Following a fluke play in front of the Valiants' net at 16:08, Chatham finally got on the board to make it 4-1, but James and Howard quickly answered. The Cougars pulled their goalie to get the extra skater on and Howard made them pay, launching the puck three quarters down the ice before James got past the Chatham blueliners to put the puck into the empty net at 16:33. In the final minute of the game, Sabia struck again – also on the empty net – to make it 6-1 with assists from Howard and sophomore Tia Martignetti. She closed out the game with an even-strength wrister – assisted by junior Diana Piacquadio – to seal it at 7-1 with just over 30 seconds left.
With the win, Manhattanville secures a spot in the UCHC Semifinal round, where the Valiants will face William Smith College – the third-seeded team in the South Division – next Saturday, March 7. All three UCHC Final Four games will be hosted by the #1 overall seed Elmira College in Pine Valley, N.Y. at the Murray Athletic Center. The Soaring Eagles are ranked fifth in the nation.