UTICA, NY - The Pioneers' women's hockey team hosted the Manhattanville Valiants at the Nexus Center once again to finish out the Valentine's Day weekend doubleheader this afternoon. After falling 2-1 during Friday's contest, the orange and blue put the game away at the start of the third period after two scoreless periods. In her first action in over a month, freshman goalie Katherine Sheahan made a difference for the Pioneers, making 19 saves in the second shutout of her collegiate career, with 11 saves of those saves in the final frame.

Offensively, the game's only goal was scored by Angelina Garganese. Kendall Best and Nora Pollestad added assists on the early third-period strike. Maya Jerome led the game in shots on goal on the day with seven. Kaci Ryder and Pollestad were second in shots with four to end the game. Best and Garganese took the majority of faceoffs in this afternoon's match, Best winning 14, with a faceoff percentage of 73.7%, and Garganese winning 11, with a faceoff percentage of 78.6%. 

The Valiants' Colby Cantor led the team in shots with five, followed by Harper Weisback and Taylor Willoughby with three. Catrina Chinetti joined her teammates as the final Manhattanville player with more than one shot on target. Emilija Tuciute was a key part of the visitors' defense, blocking five Pioneer shot attempts. Manhattanville's goalie, Olivia Cimorelli, ended the game with 24 saves, eight in each period.

Manhattanville's applied heavy pressure late in the game, taking more than half their shots in the final 20 minutes, but that didn't stop the Pioneers from putting the game away early in the third period. Just 3:18 into play, Garganese found the back of the net following a netfront battle. The sequence began with Pollestad sending the puck in from the blue line, where Best knocked it into the open ice near Garganese.

The Pioneers travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, next weekend to face Chatham University in the final two games of the regular season. Game one is set for February 20th at 4:00 pm, with game two coming the following day at 1:00 pm. Action for both days is set to take place at the Alpha Ice Complex.