Antigonish, NS - The STFX X-Women opened their 2021-22 pre-season exhibition schedule with a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Saint Mary's Huskies. The X-Women launched a third comeback after being down 3-0 but fell short of tying the game.
When reflecting on the X-Women's start to the game – their first one played since March, 2020 when their 2019-20 national championship bid was cut short after their opening quarterfinal match - X-Women head coach Ben Berthiaume noted that, "It was interesting to watch, I found the jitters came more in the second period. I think there was a lot of excitement in the first and then the second period we kind of hit a lull."
The Huskies opened the scoring in the ninth minute of the first period with Ellen Laurence (Kentville, NS) finding the top corner off a two-on-one, with the assist coming from Aimee O'Neill (Glace Bay, NS).
Shots were even at 10 each at the end of the first as the lone SMU goal held after 20 minutes of play.
Near midway through the second period, the X-Women ended up with two players in the penalty box at the same time and the Huskies made them pay. Defender Maddy Corbett's (Sydney, NS) shot from the point found the back of the net at 10:02 while on the 5-on-3 advantage, giving them a 2-0 lead. O'Neill and Sioban Birch (Mississauga, ON) had the assists.
Shots were 21-15 in favour of Saint Mary's at the end of the second.
SMU was first to answer the bell in the third period as they increased their lead to three goals after Laura Horwood (Grandfalls-Windsor, NFLD) roofed a pass from Kate Gallant (Brooklin, ON) and Keyara Nelson (Belville, ON) at 3:38.
Maggy Burbidge (Falmouth, NS) scored her first goal in an X jersey while on the power play to put the home team on the board at 10:19 of the third. Josie Chisholm (Antigonish, NS) had the lone assist.
Burbridge then tallied her second of the night after picking the pocket of a Huskies defender behind the net and scoring unassisted with three minutes left in the game.
The X-Women continued to pressure for the equalizer and pulled goaltender Jamie Johnson (Victoria, BC) from the net with 1:36 left to play but the comeback fell just short and the Huskies held on for the win.
Coach Berthiaume commented, "It was nice to see us come back in the third period and good to see what our team is capable of. We put some pressure on them and were able to make some plays."
The final shot tally was 28-24 in favour of STFX with Johnson recording 21 stops. Dagny Hudspeth (Burlington, ON) earned the win for the Huskies with 26 saves.
The X-Women pre-season continues tomorrow night with a re-match in Halifax against the same Saint Mary's squad. They return home on October 2 for a game against Dalhousie.
The team will continue to use these games to prepare for the upcoming AUS regular season as Berthiaume notes, "We're trying to see who has some chemistry and who can fit together. We're going to spend these four exhibition games seeing where we're at and what we need to improve on, obviously lots, and then we'll go from there."
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Courtesy Matt Draper, STFX Sports Information