Sackville, NB – The Mount Allison Mounties forced a third and deciding game in the AUS best 2-of-3 semifinal series with a 3-1 victory over the StFX X-Women Thursday night.

Two first period goals by Marissa Simard was all the scoring the Mounties needed for the win.
Game three is scheduled for Saturday night at 7:00 pm at the StFX Keating Centre.

With just over three minutes into the game second year forward Simard picked up a rebound after StFX gave up the puck in their own zone and slid the puck past goaltender Sojung Shin. Sara Gagnier picked up an assist on the play.

The Mounties played well in the first period as their offense capitalized on StFX converting them into scoring opportunities.

Their second goal came six minutes later when Courtney King sped through the neutral zone and brought the puck into the X zone, passing across to Simard who beat Shin over the shoulder for her second goal of the game.

StFX called timeout after the two goals in an attempt to regroup. They had a power play chance before the period was over but were not able to capitalize.

Mount Allison had a late 5-on-3 opportunity for 30 seconds that overlapped the end of the second period and opening of the third but StFX fought it off.

Shots were 13-11 in favor of Mount A in the first period.

The X-Women held the edge in shots in the second period (11-7) and had two power play chances but both teams were held scoreless in the middle frame.

StFX came out firing in the third period. Thirty-five seconds in Schyler Campbell dug the puck out of the corner and passed it out front to Connor Garagan who redirected it in past Mountie netminder Kate O'Brien.

StFX kept up the third period pressure and had several scoring chances as the Mounties defense began to falter.

Mount Allison took a late tripping penalty with 3:16 left to play, but were able to fight off the StFX attack as O'Brien held solid in net.

The X-Women pressured for the final minutes of play. They pulled Shin from the net in favor of the extra attacker but could not score the equalizer.

Kara Anthony scored an unassisted empty net goal with seven seconds left to seal the Mounties 3-1 victory.

O'Brien had 32 saves in the Mounties net as StFX outshot the home team 33-25.

With the series now tied at 1-1, the AUS semifinal series will be decided on Saturday night as game three is scheduled for 7:00 pm at the StFX Keating Centre.

The winner will advance to play the winner of the Moncton-Saint Mary's semifinal in the AUS final, also a best 2-of-3 affair.