NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The first career hat trick from sophomore Nicole Mensi (Mamaroneck, N.Y./SUNY Plattsburgh) propelled the second-seeded Manhattanville College women’s hockey team into the New England Hockey Conference Championship game as the Valiants took down third-seeded UMass Boston 4-2 inside Norwich University’s Kreitzberg Arena Friday evening.
With the win, Manhattanville moves on to tomorrow’s championship game, where the Valiants will take on top-seeded Norwich with puck drop scheduled for 3:00 pm. Fans who cannot make it to Northfield can catch all the action live at www.govaliants.com/live.
Mensi scored the first two Valiant goals and sealed the victory with an empty-net goal late in the contest to push Manhattanville past the Beacons. The three goals give Mensi 20 for the season, the most by a Valiant since the 2010 season. Freshman Zoey Pellowitz (Arlington, Va./Washington Pride) added the go-ahead goal for the Valiants, her third of the postseason, to put Manhattanville on top for good. Juniors Kristi Peters (Newport Beach, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks), Sarah Sinning (Southold, N.Y./National Sports Academy), and Maeve O’Brien (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) each recorded an assist on the night. In goal, sophomore Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) stopped 16 shots to earn her ninth win of the season and Rachel Myette made 31 saves for UMass Boston.
Manhattanville had opportunities early in the first, going on the man-advantage just over three minutes in, but could not capitalize. This allowed the Beacons to take the early lead when Emily Harris potted her eighth goal of the season on the power play just over eight minutes into the contest. After fighting off a second penalty, the Valiants responded strong late in the frame, peppering Myette with nine shot attempts over the final six minutes, but the junior netminder shut the door on the Valiants who finished the period with an 8-7 advantage in shots on goal.
The Crimson and Black continued their strong play early in the middle frame, starting the second period on the power play and once again putting consistent pressure on Myette. Just over two minutes into the frame, Myette made a fantastic pad save against the left post to keep the Beacons on top, but the Valiants finally broke through midway through the period. Off of a turnover, Mensi carried the puck up ice and deked into the slot where her initial shot rang off the iron, but she corralled her own rebound and buried it in an open net to level the scoring.
The score did not remain tied for long, however, as UMass Boston converted on the man advantage once again, this time off the stick of Rachel Peacock to put the Beacons back on top four minutes later. But just 50 seconds later the Valiants struck again though, when Mensi buried her second of the day off the rebound of an O’Brien shot to tie the score heading into the locker room for the second intermission.
It was a goaltending showdown for the early part of the final stanza, with both Pijaca and Myette making big saves to keep the score leveled until the 12:28 mark when Manhattanville broke through for the decisive goal. With lots of traffic in front of the net, Peters fired a shot from the point that rebounded right to Pellowitz near the top of the left faceoff circle, and the freshman buried a rocket to give the Valiants a 3-2 lead. Pijaca continued to make big saves down the stretch for the Valiants, holding off an extra attacker for the final 1:43 of action and giving Mensi a chance to cap off the hat trick with an empty netter with 28 seconds remaining, giving the Valiants a spot in the championship game for the first time since 2013.
