Rebecca Baker
Fredericton, NB - The St. Thomas University Tommies suffered a 3-0 loss in their #ThinkPink game against the St. Francis Xavier University X-Women at the Grant Harvey Centre Friday night.
Both teams came out firing at the net in the first period, the Tommies with 8 shots on target and X-Women with 7, but all were denied. "I thought we played a good first. I thought we came out well," said Tommies head coach Peter Murphy.
U-Sports leading goal scorer, Tyra Meropoulis (Edson, AB), was buzzing early into the second period, scoring her 25th goal of the season. With her goal a game pace this season she leads the second leading goal scorer in the country by 10 goals. Murphy, "she's a tough one to stop, but if you can hold her to one then you're usually pretty happy". The Tommies succeeded in keeping the top scorer at bay in for the rest of the game.
"We started well in the second", said Murphy after the game. "X scored one, and you know, it's just being able to bounce back after they score one"
Lydia Schurman (Summerside, PE) scored for X at 7:53 of the second period, while Kristen McKinley (Rothesay, NB) finished of the scoring for the night with a goal in the third, leading the X-Women to a 3-0 lead over the Tommies.
Jamie Johnson (Victoria, BC) made 25 saves in the shutout, while Marandee Hunter (Chatham, ON) made 29 saves in the loss.
Murphy says, "I thought we had opportunities to be right there in that game, I don't think that the score was indicative of the overall play, but they were the better team today".
The X-Women now take over the AUS lead in the standings thanks to their current 9 game win streak.
The X-Women will stay in Fredericton to face the UNB Reds on Saturday while the Tommies will travel to Halifax to take on the Saint Mary's Huskies on Sunday.