Rye, N.Y. - Junior forward Kelcie Finn (Weymouth, Mass.) scored the game-tying goal with 59 seconds left in the third period to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 2-2 tie against the Manhattanville College Valiants in women's ice hockey action this evening at Playland Ice Casino. Trinity is now 2-8-2 with a road game at St. Anselm tomorrow at 7 p.m., while the Valiants move to 8-5-1.
It was a quiet start to the night for both teams, as there was just one shot on goal in the opening five minutes of action. The Bantams jumped on the board first at the midway point of the opening stanza when junior Melissa Maffeo (Melrose, Mass.) redirected a high shot by classmate Kayla O'Connor (Springfield, Mass.) past Manhattanville sophomore goalie Rose Pijaca (Worcester, Mass.) for the first goal of the evening. Finn also had an assist on the play. Manhattanville had a few opportunities on the power play late in the period, but were unable to get anything past Trinty rookie Kai-Lilly Karpman (Playa del Ray, Calif.) and headed into the first intermission trailing by a goal.
After a scoreless second period, the final stanza proved to be much more exciting. Just 1:41 into the final period, Manhattanville got on the board when Karly Kapur buried a centering pass from Sarah Sinning to tie the score. Just over two minutes later, the Valiants struck again when Janet Xu beat Karpman on the glove side to give the home squad a one-goal edge with 15 minutes remaining. Finn pushed a loose puck over the goal line while playing with an extra attacker on the ice from Maffeo and junior defender Hannah Oganeku (Castle Pines, Colo.) to level the scoring and force an overtime period.
In the extra period, Manhattanville attempted seven shots before the Bantams were able to get the puck into the offensive end of the ice, but the Trinity defense blocked three of those seven. After a couple attempts by the Bantams in the opposite direction, the final horn sounded with the score still tied 2-2. Between the pipes, Pijaca compiled 24 saves, and Karpman stopped 21 shots.
