Feb. 23, 2008

Box Score

 

RYE, N.Y. - Neumann scored three times in the final five minutes to pull away for a 5-1 win over fifth-ranked Manhattanville Friday night in an ECAC West game at the Playland Ice Casino.

The Knights - ranked 15th in the country - pulled even with the Valiants for second place in the conference standings, with the two teams set to meet up again Saturday night.  Neumann built an early 2-0 lead in Friday's game and stayed in front the rest of the way, beating Manhattanville for the second time in as many meetings this season.

Erik Stoyanovich got the scoring started at 17:46 of the first when he threw a puck toward the net from the boards that popped over the head of Valiant goal tender Paul Reimer and into the goal.  The Knights built their lead to 2-0 just over three minutes into the second period when Brock Van Slyke ripped a slap shot past Reimer off a turnover in the Valiant end.

Neumann netminder Mike Collichio was put to the test for the rest of the period with was dominated by Manhattanville.  The Valiants put 21 shots on goal during the period - out-shooting the Knights 21-8 - and had countless scoring chances before and after the Neumann goal.  Chris Trafford converted on one of those chances at 5:07.

Manhattanville never did crack Collichio again in the second or for the rest of the game. An aggressive Mannhattanville team made sure it stayed that way 8:38 into the third when he was called upon to stop a Mark Van Vliet penalty shot and did so, kicking away Van Vliet's attempt.

The Knights weren't satisfied with a 2-1 score when Neil Trimm put the game out of the Valiant's reach with a goal 15:09 into the third.  Van Vliet and Stoyanovich followed with goals in the next 2:38 - Stoyanovich's came with the Valiant net empty - to produce the final margin.

Reimer made 27 saves in defeat while Collicho finished with 41 stops, including 20 in the wild second period.  The Valiants out-shot the Knights 42-32 in the game and lost despite holding Neumann's power play, which was ranked fourth in the country, scoreless in seven attempts.

Manhattanville (15-6-3, 7-5-2 ECAC West) and Neumann (17-7-0, 8-6-0 ECAC West) will do battle again tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. to close out the regular season, with the winner securing the second seed in the upcoming ECAC West Tournament.