(ANTIGONISH, N.S.) - The top seeded StFX X-Women defeated the fifth ranked Mount Allison Mounties 4-1 in the first game of the Subway AUS women's hockey championship semifinals Tuesday evening at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
With the win, the X-Women take a 1-0 lead in the best 2-of-3 game series. Game two is slated for Thursday night in Sackville, N.B. where the Mounties will face a must-win situation on home ice to keep the series alive.
CIS leading scorer and reigning two-time AUS MVP Alex Normore and second-year forward Paige Belair scored third period goals four minutes apart to give the X-Women the edge in the game.
Subway Player of the Game Daley Oddy, a freshman forward from Cranbrooke, B.C., scored a goal and had an assist for the X-Women while Sojung Shin posted 20 saves in the StFX net for the win, earning second star honours.
Mounties goaltender Kate O'Brien was the third star with 30 saves on goal.
After both teams exchanged power-play opportunities in the first period, the X-Women opened the scoring in the game at 14:03 on a Connor Garagan goal. The freshman forward blasted a high shot from just inside the blue line that beat O'Brien over her shoulder. Schyler Campbell, returning to the StFX line-up after an injury, assisted on the play.
O'Brien made some key saves late in the period for the Mounties to keep the score at 1-0 for StFX after 20 minutes of play. StFX had the edge in shots at 13-5.
Veteran Mount Allison forward Lindsay James evened the game with a power-play goal at 6:20 of the second period, pushing in the puck past Shin as Samantha Bujold and Amanda Volcko assisted.
The 1-1 deadlock held after two periods despite the Mounties outshooting the home team 14-8 in the middle frame.
Normore scored what would hold out to be the game winner 1:54 into the third period. She brought the puck up ice with linemate Oddy and after passing it off, O'Brien made the initial save off Oddy's shot but Normore followed up on the rebound and tucked the puck in around her pads.
Belair notched the insurance marker four minutes later as she picked up the puck in the slot after a Kelsey Farrell shot and fired it home past O'Brien.
The Mounties best chance to get back in the game came on a 2-on-1 opportunity but they were turned aside by Shin. The X-Women held the Mounties to only two shots in the third period and Oddy scored an empty net goal at 19:36 from Normore and Kara Power to seal the victory.
Final shots in the game were 34-21 in favor of StFX.
Game two will be held in Sackville, N.B. on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. It will be webcast live on www.austv.ca.
Game three, if necessary, will be back in Antigonish on Saturday night, Mar. 1 at the StFX Keating Centre.
Source: StFX Sports Information