Tommies Honour Grads With 3-1 Win Over Panthers

Tommies Honour Grads With 3-1 Win Over Panthers

Fredericton, NB – On a day where the St. Thomas University Tommies celebrated seven graduating players, five of those graduates would find the score sheet as the Tommies would defeat the visiting University of Prince Edward Island Panthers 3-1.

Olivia Reid (Aurora, ON), Florence Awde (Mount Albert, ON), Emma Pye (Oshawa, ON), Megan Pardy (Courtice, ON), Lauren Legault (Winnipeg, MB), Mariah Carey (Avonport, NS) and Alex Woods (Courtice, ON) were all honoured pregame, with the latter five finding their way onto the score sheet with goals or assists.

The Tommies didn't take long to open the scoring as Carey put her team on the board 4:08 into the game. Tommies' head coach, Peter Murphy, wanted his team to come out with a little more intensity today to start today, and they responded. "We had a good start today. They came out hard today and all lines played well," said Murphy.

The second period was very similar to the first, as the Tommies would once again get a quick goal, this time from Aislynn Byers (Melancthon, ON), who would beat Panthers' goalie Camille Scherger on the power play. Keeping the trend going was Tommies' captain, Woods, who would score 25 seconds into the third period, also on the power play.

"The grad game just reminds us how close we are as a team and how we love playing for each other," said Woods about the team's mentality today. "After last night's loss the drive in us was there today."

Caroline Pietroski (Etobicoke, ON) would have her bid for a shutout ruined by Kelly Clements in the third period, but she would make 27 saves on the day to earn the win. Scherger made 36 saves in the loss.

The pair of power play goals were a sight for sore eyes for the Tommies, as the team had gone 1/28 with the advantage since the return to play.

"The fans really helped pump us up today," added Carey following the game. "We play them for them and we play for each other, so it was a really great feeling out there today. Our team unity really came together today."

These two teams will face each other again on Wednesday in Charlottetown, PE in one of the Atlantic University Sport women's hockey semi-final games, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00pm.