GORHAM, Maine – Led by goals from senior captains Lindsay Diot (Bethel, Conn./Boston Shamrocks) and Taryn Harris (Morrison, Colo./Colorado Selects), the Manhattanville women’s ice hockey team began their weekend play with a 2-1 victory over the University of Southern Maine Friday evening at USM Ice Arena.
The Valiants (2-1, 2-1 NEHC) outshot the Huskies (0-4, 0-3 NEHC) 26-22 on the night, and were able to hang out for the win despite taking the last five penalties of the game, including two in the final four minutes of play.
In goal, sophomore Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) stopped 21 shots to earn her first win of the season.
It did not take long for Manhattanville to earn momentum on Friday, scoring 3:46 seconds into the opening frame on a goal from Diot who deflected a shot from sophomore Kat Reilly (Holbrook, N.Y./Boston Shamrocks (JWHL)) into the back of the net to give Manhattanville a 1-0 edge over the Huskies.
After playing the next 29 minutes scoreless, Harris scored the eventual game-winning goal with 7:50 remaining in the second period, putting home a rebound off of a shot from junior Karly Kapur (Sparta, N.J./N.J. Colonials) to give Manhattanville the 2-0 lead.
The Huskies would fight back late in the period, scoring with just over three minutes remaining to cut the deficit in half, but the Valiants stood tall in the final stanza, holding the Huskies scoreless to improve to 2-1 in conference play on the year.
The Valiant special teams unit looked much improved on Friday, successfully killing off all seven power play opportunities for Southern Maine after killing off just 67 percent of opponents’ power play opportunities in their first two games.
Manhattanville returns to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to the University of New England for a 4:00 showdown with the Pilgrims in NEHC play.
