(Antigonish, N.S.) - In a battle of top-10 ranked teams in the CIS, the StFX X-Women (No. 8, 4-4-1) scored a victory over the St. Thomas Tommies (No. 9, 6-2-1) Saturday night at the StFX Keating Centre.  

The X-Women held the territorial advantage for the first half of the opening period, but they could not get on the scoreboard against St. Thomas netminder Taylor Cook (Brantford, ON). 

At 12:26, the Tommies jumped to a 1-0 lead, when a long wrist shot from Marina Sergina (Dmitrov, Russia) squirted through the glove of X-Women goaltender Pascale Daigle (Irishtown, NB) and trickled over the goal line. Kenya Marcelline (Whitby, ON) collected the lone assist on the marker.

Early in the second period, at the 1:50 mark, the Tommies doubled their lead on a goal from Emily Oleksuk (Thunder Bay, ON), with Kelty Apperson (New Hamburg, ON) and Samantha Squires (Guelph, ON) notching assists.

At the tail end of a 5-on-3 power play, the X-Women sliced the Tommies' lead in half, when Sarah Bujold (Riverview, NB) poked her own rebound behind Cook. Heather Tillsley (Aurora, ON), who assisted on the goal, made a great play to keep the puck inside the blue line, stretching out and gloving down a hard clearing attempt. Kara Power (New Glasgow, NS) chipped in the other assist, at 4:47.

On a subsequent 5-on-3 for the Tommies, they could not beat the X-Women defense and Daigle.

Off a hard-working shift late in the second period, the X-Women knotted the game, with freshman Brooke Noseworthy (St. Anthony, NL) scoring the first goal of her AUS career. Jenna MacDonald (Osgoode, ON) and Connor Garagan (Fredericton, NB) earned the assists. The marker came at the 16:01 mark.

In the third period, the X-Women completed the comeback, with the game-winning goal coming off the stick of team captain Taylor Dale (Oromocto, NB), who roofed a close-in wrist shot over the shoulder of Cook. Daley Oddy, who assisted on the goal, dug out the puck in the corner before making the pass to spring Dale.

The X-Women carried the play for the bulk of the final two periods, out-shooting the Tommies 38-14.

Daigle made 24 saves for the win, while Cook turned aside 43 shots in the loss.

The Subway player of the game and first star was Dale, while Tillsley and Apperson earned the second and third stars, respectively.

The Tommies will return to action Sunday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m., when they travel to Halifax to face the Saint Mary's Huskies.

On the same day, the X-Women will host the Mount Allison Mounties in a 2 p.m. start at the Keating Centre.

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