ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College men’s & women’s ice hockey teams will both take the ice this weekend at the Murray Athletic Center as part of the New England Hockey Conference quarterfinal rounds. The tournament runs over the course of three weekends, with the quarterfinals being this Saturday (Feb. 18) followed by the semifinals and championship rounds hosted by the highest remaining seeds on February 25 and March 4, respectively.
The Elmira College women (19-5-0, 17-0-0 NEHC) moved up to No. 8 in the latest USCHO DIII National Rankings and enter the NEHC Tournament as the No. 1 seed after capturing a second consecutive NEHC regular season title. The Soaring Eagles will match up against the No. 8 seed Salem State University Vikings in the quarterfinals for a second time in the last two seasons on Saturday at 3:00 PM.
The Soaring Eagles enter the NEHC Tournament leading the conference as a team in scoring defense (1.54 goals per game), faceoff win percentage (.593, and shutouts (9). In the national rankings, Elmira sits 10th in DIII with 88 goals scored and is 12th with 131 assists. The trio of Morgan Mordini ’22, Erika Goleniak ’25, and Mary McCafferty ’22 have combined to record 77 points through 24 games this season for the Purple & Gold, while first-year forward Emma Bradbury ’26 has tallied 18 points and ranks 10th in DIII with four game-winning goals.
The men, who finished 4th in the NEHC will take on #5 seed Skidmore College at 7:00 PM on Saturday. In two meetings this season, Elmira has posted a 2-0-0 record against Skidmore, outscoring the opposition 9-3 as Brendan Schultz ’23 has scored in each of the games. Elmira holds the 4-2-0 advantage all-time against the Thoroughbreds dating back to 2005. The Soaring Eagles have picked up wins in each of its last two quarterfinals matchups dating back to the UCHC Tournament in 2021 (2022 vs. NEC; 2021 vs. Chatham).
Amedeo Mastrangeli ’24 finished the regular season ranked 1st in the NEHC in assists per game (0.80). Mastrangeli is one of just two Elmira defenseman since 2012 to record 20 or more assists in a season, doing so on two occasions (2021-22, 2022-23) along with Ryan Blais (2017-18). The Soaring Eagles are averaging 3.6 goals per game this season, good for 2nd in the NEHC behind Hobart (3.96) and 15th nationally. Chance Gorman ’24 ranks 1st in the NEHC in goals per game (0.76), while ranking 5th in the country behind Matus Spodniak of Adrian (0.88).
TICKET INFORMATION:
Similarly to last season, the Elmira College Department of Athletics will be offering free admission to all New England Hockey Conference tournament games played at the Murray Athletic Center. A donation box will be available at the ticketing table, with proceeds going to help offset all ice hockey postseason travel costs.
NEHC QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE (WOMEN):
#8 Salem State (3-13-2) at #1 Elmira (17-0-0) – 3pm
#7 Johnson and Wales (6-9-3) at #2 Norwich (14-2-2) – 3pm
#6 UMass Boston (8-8-2) at #3 Southern Maine (11-6-1) – 4pm
#5 William Smith (9-8-0) at #4 Castleton (11-7-0) – 3pm
NEHC QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE (MEN):
#8 Castleton (7-11-0) at #1 Hobart (16-2-0) – 4pm
#7 New England College (7-10-1) at #2 Norwich (14-2-2) – 7pm
#6 UMass Boston (8-10-0) at #3 Babson (10-6-2) – 4pm
#5 Skidmore (9-7-2) at #4 Elmira (10-7-1) – 7pm
