UTICA, NY - The second-seeded and nationally ranked No. 14 Utica University women's hockey team is set to host the third-seeded Manhattanville College Valiants in the UCHC Semifinals at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 from the Utica University Nexus Center. 
 
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Last Time Out: Utica defeated the seventh-seeded Chatham Cougars 5-0 in the UCHC Quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday evening. The Pioneers dominated both ends of the ice in the game, controlling the puck much of the game and out-shooting Chatham 50-10 on the night. Kaci Ryder (Shrewsbury, MA/WC Swans), Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel), Callie McLaughlin (Centerport, NY/New Hampton School), Jordan Kowalski (Chicopee, MA/Plattsburgh State (NCAA DIII)), and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) each scored one apiece in what was a balanced scoring effort. Ryder, Cortney Staniszewski (Buffalo, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Millbrook School), Madison Novotny (Wesley Chapel, FL/Northwood School), Kelsey Elliott (Attleboro, MA/East Coast Wizards), and Angelina Garganese (Winter Springs, Fl/Florida Alliance) all provided an assist. Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) was excellent in net, making 10 saves in net without allowing a goal. Lindsey Batz tallied a season high 45 saves for the Cougars, but Utica's offensive pressure proved to be too much for the team to handle. The first period finished scoreless as Chatham's Batz was a brick wall in net, making 14 saves in the opening frame. Utica had several close scoring chances but ultimately couldn't convert.  Utica's puck dominance kept the action away from Hawthorne the majority of the period, but the senior made several excellent saves to keep Chatham off the scoreboard. The team fended off a penalty kill in the period with ease, not allowing a shot on net during that stretch. The Pioneers would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the second with scores from Sloan and Kowalski. Chatham remained resilient throughout much of the period until an interference call at the 11:30 mark would lead to a Utica power play and shift the game's momentum. Seconds into the 5-on-4 advantage, Sloan was left with plenty of room to operate after a faceoff and the graduate student capitalized on the Chatham defensive mistake, rifling a top-shelf shot into the back of the net. Five minutes later, Elliott would intercept a puck in the neutral zone leading to a 2-on-1 breakaway. She dished a perfect pass over to Kowalski, setting her up with nobody to beat but the goalie. Kowalski fired a shot that would deflect off Batz and into the net, extending the Utica lead to two goals. Utica remained on the attack in the third, coming out firing. Strong goalie play from Chatham continued as Batz made 12 saves to start the frame until McLaughlin snuck a wrist shot by her 13 minutes in.  Immediately following this score with Utica's same line out, Garganese collected a loose puck in Chatham's territory and found Ryder wide open who would snipe another goal top-shelf, extending the lead to 4-0. In a last ditch effort, the Cougars would pull their goalie to try and muster up some offense. This plan was short lived as Whitney would find herself out in open ice where she dished a pass off to Rylott to score from point blank on the empty net, closing out the game. 
 
In the Polls: The Utica University women's hockey team remained No. 14 in this week's US College Hockey Online Women's Top 15. The poll was released Monday by the national college hockey website. The Pioneers received 38 points this week to hold the No. 14 spot in the poll. Utica swept King's in its final regular season series this past week with a 10-1 win on Feb. 14 as well as a 6-1 victory on Saturday. The entire Division III women's poll can be found at https://www.uscho.com/rankings/d-iii-womens-poll/.
 
A Look at the Bracket: The eight-team 2024 UCHC Women's Hockey Championship Tournament will take place with quarterfinal action on Wednesday, Feb. 21, Semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 24 and the Championship game on Saturday, March 2. The UCHC Champion receives an automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament. Aside from the Pioneers' 5-0 win over (7) Chatham on Thursday, other Wednesday quarterfinal games include top-seeded Nazareth University defeating (8) King's College, 5-0, third-seeded Manhattanville College besting (6) Alvernia University, 4-0, and fifth-seeded Wilkes University upsetting fourth-seeded Arcadia, 1-0. (1) Nazareth will host (5) Wilkes in the other semifinal bout at 4 p.m. on Saturday. 
 
Playoff History: The Pioneers qualified for their seventh straight UCHC Tournament, having made each postseason trip since the conference began in 2017-18. Utica owns a 5-6 overall record in the UCHC Tournament with four wins coming over the past three seasons. This will be the fourth all-time postseason meeting between the Pioneers and Valiants. 
 
How we Enter: The team is on a seven-gaming winning streak, out-scoring its opponents 39-5 since February 2. The only three losses of the 2023-24 season came against Hamilton College and Nazareth University (two losses). The team enters the semifinals as the league's top-scoring offense with 4.58 goals per game, which ranks third amongst DIII. The team also comes into the postseason as the league's second ranked defensive unit, allowing just one goal per game. Utica's 1.00 goals against average ranks ninth in Division III.  
 
In Her Own Club: Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) made program history against King's on February 17. She now leads the program in goals with 76 after surpassing Deana Wiegand '06 and Megan Myers '13 who previously tied for the most in program history with 74. Sloan ranks fourth in the UCHC with 15 goals and sixth with 1.08 points per game. She currently has seven goals over her last five games.
 
About M'Ville: The Manhattanville College Valiants are 13-11-2 overall and finished the year 12-6-2 in UCHC play to earn the three-seed. The Valiants, led by Head Coach Jennifer MacAskill, finished third in league play with 40 points and scored 76 goals while allowing 63. Gabrielle Cox's 23 goals led both Manhattanville as well as the UCHC while her .96 goals per game ranks as the second highest mark in the league. The graduate student forward has posted a multi-goal game in seven out of 24 contests with her most coming at Neumann University on Feb. 2 where she scored four. The last time Utica and Manhattanville met on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18, Cox combined for two goals and one assist. Forward Grace Felicio is second on the team with seven goals and 10 assists followed by defender Grace Genest, who leads the Valiants with 12 assists. Goaltender Franny Gerardi has a 9-10-1 overall record, posting a .923 save percentage and a 3.05 goals-against average. 
 
Anyone Say a Rematch?: The last time Utica and Manhattanville met in the UCHC Tournament also came in the semifinals last season. In a game that resulted in a 7-1 Pioneer victory, Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) led the team with two goals while Abby Lillis (West Seneca, NY/Buffalo Bisons), Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel), Cortney Staniszewski (Buffalo, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) and Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Millbrook School) each had one. Sloan also tallied four points thanks to three assists to go with her goal. Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) also put together a three assist game. In goal, Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) made 32 saves with one lone breakaway goal allowed en route to her 16th victory of the season. 
 
Series Slate: The Pioneers and Valiants have played tightly contested matchups since the two started playing in the 2003-04 season. Utica is 11-10-2 all-time with its longest winning streak coming in 2022-23 where they won three straight. The last time these teams met on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 featured two competitive games. Manhattanville won the first matchup in a shootout. The Valiants jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Modlin and Sloan struck back to even the game at two. Cox gave the Valiants a 3-2 lead five minutes into the second period followed by a Modlin game-tying goal seven minutes into the third period to even the contest at three apiece. In the second game, Utica scored late in the first period followed by two goals scored in the second by each team. Kowalski scored a power-play goal with just under 12 minutes remaining in the third period. Her goal would put the icing on the cake to send Utica home with a 3-1 victory. 

Up Next: With a victory, the Pioneers will advance to their second consecutive UCHC Championship with the 2023-24 title bout set for March 2. In that scenario, if Nazareth defeats Wilkes, Utica will travel to Rochester, NY for the game while a Wilkes upset win would set the Pioneers up with a home championship game.