RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women’s ice hockey team battled back with three third period goals to defeat Southern Maine 3-2 to pick up two key points in New England Hockey Conference play Saturday at Playland Ice Casino.
Sophomore Kristi Peters (Newport Beach, CA/Corona del Mar) scored the game winning goal as Manhattanville was finally able to get past Huskie goaltender Brittney Evangelista in the third period after having several good looks on goal in the first two periods of action.
Both Evangelista and Valiant junior goaltender Olivia Drew (York, Maine/Portland Jr. Pirates) made a few great saves in the first period to keep the game scoreless. Manhattanville (5-7 overall, 4-4 NEHC) had a golden opportunity to go on top late in the period when the Huskies (2-11-1 overall, 1-5-1 NEHC) took two penalties on a Valiant rush to give Manhattanville a two-man advantage. The Valiants were unable to capitalize however and the teams headed into the second period deadlocked 0-0.
Just as Manhattanville seemed to be building momentum, the Huskies responded with a short-handed goal, as Lynn Kozlowski picked up a loose puck and beat Drew one-on-one to give Southern Maine a 1-0 lead which they would take into the final intermission.
The Valiants were finally able to get the offense to click in the third period, when senior captain Kyra Herbert (Plainfield, N.H./Lebanon) beat Evangelista with a great one-timer from sophomore Karly Kapur (Sparta, N.J./Sparta High School) to knot up the score. The Huskies responded with a goal of their own off of a Manhattanville turnover in their own end before the Manhattanville offense caught fire.
With just over 11 minutes to play, the Valiants broke out on a three-on-one attack. Freshman Kat Reilly (Holbrook, N.Y./Boston Shamrocks (JWHL)) found Kapur in the slot but her initial shot was kicked up by Evangelista but Reilly was able to bat it out of the air and into the back of the net to once again even the score. The Valiants continued the offensive pressure and with eight minutes to play, Peters fired a shot from the point that found the back of the net off of a great feed from freshman Jordan Roetzer (Buffalo, N.Y./Niagara Junior Purple Eagles) to secure the victory for Manhattanville.
The win helps the Valiants keep pace in the conference, picking up two points to give them six points in conference for the year. They will look to extend their two-game winning streak tomorrow afternoon when they play host to the University of New England at 3:00 P.M. at Playland Ice Casino.
