RYE, N.Y. – The Valiants attempted to come up with some third period magic for the second consecutive day, but their comeback efforts fell short as the Manhattanville College women’s ice hockey team fell to the University of New England on Saturday, 5-4 at Playland Ice Casino.
With just under five minutes to play and trailing by three goals, head coach David Turco elected to pull freshman goaltender Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Academy) in an all-out effort to tie the game. Just under a minute later, freshman Kat Reilly (Holbrook, N.Y./Boston Shamrocks (JWHL)) put home her fifth goal of the season to cut the deficit to two. Two minutes later, classmate Lindsay Diot (Bethel, Conn./Boston Shamrocks) corralled a loose puck, turned and fired a shot past Nor’easter goaltender Sydney Helmbrecht to make it a one-goal game. The late magic would come to an end however, as the Valiants were unable to find the back of the net for the tying goal.
New England (8-5-2 overall, 3-4-1 NEHC) took advantage of five Manhattanville penalties in the first period, jumping ahead 1-0 on a power play goal by Kimberly Gosselin. Manhattanville (5-8-0 overall, 3-5 NEHC) was able to get just four shots on target in the period after being forced to play man down for a large portion of the period.
In the second period, Emily Corrales scored just over a minute into the period to double the New England advantage. After junior Taryn Harris (Morrison, Colo./Colorado Selects) scored her fourth goal of the season, the Nor’easter offense went on a tear. Corrales scored 49 seconds later to put her team back up by two. The Nor’easters followed with two goals in 14 seconds later in the period, as Corrales completed her hat trick and Marissa Clifford-Biederman scored to make it a 5-1 game.
After completing a third period comeback Friday night, the Valiants were looking for the same spark on Saturday. Sophomore Cassandra Kent (Lake Placid, NY/Northwood) scored midway through the period to cut the deficit to three before the last-ditch efforts that came up just short.
Manhattanville will return to Playland Ice Casino on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup against the Ephs of Williams College. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 P.M.
