Seahawks win 6-5 thriller over Valiants

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – The Salve Regina University women's ice hockey team prevails 6-5 over Manhattanville College in the second annual Epilepsy Awareness game on the campus of St. George's Friday night.

The Seahawks, who wore purple jerseys to promote Epilepsy Awareness, trailed the entire game before Taylor Shepherd (Quincy, Mass.) scored the go-ahead goal with 5:38 to play in the third period. The Seahawks withstood a flurry of chances from the Valiants who pulled their goaltender to gain a 6-4 advantage for the final minute and half but in the end the Seahawks were able to hold off the attack and preserve a thrilling victory.

Things did not start as well for the Seahawks however. Aubrey Bachand (Harwichport, Mass.) got things rolling for the Valiants scoring the first goal of the game for an early 1-0 lead. 

The Seahawks capitalized on their only powerplay of the night to tie the game. Kristi Peters (Newport Beach, Calif.) got called for a trip and Sarah Markey (Ashland, Mass.) made the Valiants pay scoring at 13:28 on a feed from Shepherd.

Play remained even in the period until Grace Nardiello (Lake Placid, N.Y.) was sent to the box on a tripping call, putting Manhattanville on the powerplay with a minute left to play. Alla Traun (Edina, Minn.) scored with 9.2 seconds left in the period and the Valiants took momentum and a 2-1 lead into the break.

The Seahawks came out flying in the second period in search of the tying goal and Amanda Cronin (Medfield, Mass.) delivered it at 4:47 when she took a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Manhattanville netminder Ekaterina Nikonova (Lybertcy, Russia).

The Seahawks dominated the second period, sustaining long possessions in the attacking zone, including one sequence where the Valiants were forced to burn their timeout after icing the puck twice so as to give the skaters a rest. The Seahawks spent the majority of the period in the attacking zone, yet they had nothing to show for it. Meanwhile the Valiants capitalized on scoring chances when they came. Michele Meggiolaro (Whippany, N.J.) scored on a one-touch pass from Traun on a 3-2 break to give the Valiants a 3-2 lead.

The Seahawks continued to control play with an aggressive forecheck but could not put the puck in the net. Then Meggiolaro dug out a puck from behind the Salve Regina net and was able to flip it in front to Traun who wristed it past Colleen Marcik (Madison, Conn.) and the Valiants had a 4-2 lead.

After working so hard and falling even further behind it would be easy to be discouraged but the Seahawks kept of grinding. With a little puck luck and more hard work the Seahawks were able to tie the game in the period's final two minutes.

First Shepherd tied up Cassandra Kent (Lake Placid, N.Y.) on a faceoff leaving the puck hanging on the dot. Kimberly Spring (Kensington, Conn.) quickly slapped it on net where it took a funny bounce and landed on Nikonova's shoulder. As the goaltender turned to look for the puck it rolled off her shoulder and into the net. The goal ignited the Seahawks bench and the home crowd with 1:21 left in the second. Sarah Markey scored on a wraparound 36 second later to tie the game 4-4 and the Seahawks had tilted the ice back in their favor.

The see-saw game continued in the third with Rachael Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn.) scoring on a turnover to make it 5-4 in favor of Manhattanville. Morrison picked off a cross-ice pass from Megan Geier (Glastonberry, Conn.), deked her way around Nardiello and wristed the shot home.

Taylor Shepherd scored the equalizer at 6:17 of the third when she carried a puck through the neutral zone and down the left side before releasing a slap shot that slipped under the right elbow of Nikonova to the back of the net.

Shepherd then scored the go ahead goal on a breakaway during a four on four at 14:22 giving Salve Regina their first lead of the night and the decisive 6-5 edge.

For the Seahawks it is their seventh straight victory as they improve to 11-6-1 overall and 9-3 in the conference. 

The Valiants have a two game winning streak snapped and fall to 8-8-5 overall and 6-4-3 in conference play.

The Seahawks are right back in action on Saturday February 7 when they host UMass-Boston for Senior Night. That game is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start.

The Valiants are off until February 13 when they play New England College.