By Janet Schultz
Manhattanville
In her 92nd career game, senior defender Ellis Smith (Buffalo, N.Y./Nichols School/ Niagara Junior Purple Eagles (WNYAHL))scored her first collegiate goal for the Manhattanville College women’s hockey team Saturday, Feb. 16, the only goal of the day in a 1-0 win over the Chatham University Cougars in Manhattanville’s 2018-19 regular season finale.
For the third time Nicole Mensi (Mamoroneck/Northwood School) was named Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Player of the Week for January 7. She started with two shots in a 1-1 tie with Endicott College at the WSYB/Catamount Radio Invitational on January 5. In the second round she scored both goals for Manhattanville in a 2-1 victory over Castleton and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
On January 14 Senior Goalie Roe Pijaca took the Defensive Player of the Week honors for four solid performances in UCHC play. She had a 1.55 gaa and a .0951 save percentage in games against Utica and Elmira.
Sophomore forward Tianna Lopes (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers (JWHL)) of the Manhattanville College women’s ice hockey team picked up three weekly honors for the Valiants for her play last week. She was first selected as the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced today, Monday, Jan. 21. Then, Tuesday, Jan. 22, the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) named her the Player of the Week. Most recently, Lopes was selected to the D3Hockey.com National Team of the Week Thursday, Jan. 23. The Valiant winger helped lead her squad to a 5-2 win over Trinity College this past Tuesday, Jan. 15, with a pair of special teams goals — one on the powerplay and one shorthanded. Lopes and the Valiants then played to a series split with UCHC rival William Smith College over the weekend. She notched an assist during the 4-2 win over the Herons Saturday, Jan. 19, and then assisted on all three Manhattanville goals in a tough 6-3 loss Sunday afternoon, Jan. 20. This is Lopes’ first-career weekly honor from either D3Hockey.com, the UCHC or MAC.
In February Ali Howard (Rye/Rye) and Tianna Lopes (British Columbia) took MAC honors after Lopes netted her first career hat trick and Howard assisted on each of Lopes’ three goals and blocked four shots. Lopes took Offensive Player of the Week and Howard, Defensive Player of the Week.
Union College
Union (4-26-2 overall) closes out their regular season February 22/23 against Colgate and Cornell. Senior Day will be Feb. 23.
RPI
Senior captain Lovisa Selander made 57 saves to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory over fifth-ranked Princeton University at Hobey Baker Rink. With the win, the Engineers clinch berth in the ECAC Hockey Tournament, improving to 13-14-5 overall (10-9-1 ECAC Hockey). The loss sends the Tigers to an 18-4-5 mark (15-2-3 ECAC Hockey).
Selander broke the women’s hockey NCAA Division I record for career saves with her 11th first period stop against Harvard University. A senior captain from Sollentuna, Sweden, she finished the day with 54 and now has 3,853 for her collegiate career. Through 26 games this season, Selander is 10-12-5 with a 2.03 goals against average and a .944 save percentage. Playing 1592:44 minutes, she has made 918 total saves with three shutouts.
ECAC Hockey has announced its weekly (Jan 21) award winners from women’s hockey and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete Blake Orosz has been named Player of the Week after leading the Engineers to a victory over area-rival Union College. A junior forward from Chase Mills, N.Y., Orosz recorded four points, including her first career hat trick in RPI’s 4-1 win over the Dutchwomen. She led the team with a +4 rating and eight shots, scoring one goal in each period, including the eventual game-winner – 5:05 into the second. She finished off the game by providing the primary assist on the team’s fourth goal. The multi-point game was her fifth of the year and she now has six points (4 goals, 2 assists) over the last two contests. Orosz has played in all 23 games for the Engineers and leads the team in a number of offensive categories, including goals (10), points (19), power play goals (2), game-winning goals (4) and plus/minus (+9). She is second in shots (72) and third in assists (9). Through 11 ECAC Hockey contests, the former Nepean Wildcats standout has seven goals and five assists for 12 points, with a +6 rating. Through 89 career games at RPI, Orosz has 19 goals and 20 assists for 39 points. She collected seven goals and five assists as a sophomore and two goals and six assists in her rookie campaign.
