RYE, N.Y. – Junior Melissa Stys (Pequannock, N.J./The Kent School) deflected home a pass from senior Kayley Romano (Viera, Fla./Boston Shamrocks) just over a minute into the overtime period to help the Valiants win their fourth straight NEHC game with a 2-1 victory over New England College Saturday afternoon at Playland Ice Casino.
Despite a dominating offensive performance, sophomore goaltender Ashley Castriotta stopped 40 shots for the Pilgrims (1-5-0, 1-4-0 NEHC) to keep the Valiants scoreless for the first 54 minutes of action. The Valiants (5-1-0, 5-1-0 NEHC) outshot New England 42-15 on the afternoon, generating numerous scoring opportunities but were turned away by Castriotta time and time again before finally breaking through late in the third period.
After ringing two shots off the post earlier in the game, sophomore standout Nicole Mensi (Mamaroneck, N.Y./SUNY Plattsburgh) buried a rebound through traffic in front of the net to give Manhattanville a 1-0 lead with 3:54 to play in regulation. The Pilgrims responded late however when Alexis Severance deflected in a shot from the point by Demi Latham off of a faceoff with just over a minute remaining in the third period to level the scoring at one goal apiece for force an extra period.
The Pilgrims were handed a penalty with 15 seconds remaining in regulation and the Manhattanville power play unit took full advantage. Late in the man advantage, the Valiants used some crisp passing to free up Stys on the doorstep and Romano found her with a perfectly placed centering pass and the New Jersey native deflected one past the glove side of Castriotta to give Manhattanville the overtime victory.
With the win the Valiants remain in second place in the early New England Hockey Conference standings, just one game back of nationally ranked Norwich University who handed Manhattanville their only loss of the season so far. Manhattanville will step away from conference play until the new year, as their final five games of 2016 will feature non-conference opponents, the first of which coming on Tuesday when they travel to Pennsylvania to take on Neumann University at 7:00 pm.
