Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Women defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 6-1 on Thursday evening to take a 1-0 series lead in their best-of-three Subway AUS quarter-finals.
StFX scored three power play goals in the third period to seal the win.
Conference scoring champion Sarah Bujold (Riverview, NB) scored two goals and had two assists for the X-Women who outshot the Tigers by a 43-18 margin.
The X-Women held the Tigers to without a shot for the opening half of the first period. The teams remained scoreless until the final two minutes which saw a flurry of three goals scored within a 34 second span.
Veteran fifth year forward and X-Women captain Kara Power (New Glasgow, NS) opened the scoring in the game at 17:57 as she skated out alone into the open slot and ripped a high past Tigers netminder Fabiana Petricca (Woodbridge, ON). Bujold had the lone helper on the play.
The Tigers answered right back as Lisa MacLean (Inverness, NS) got the puck off a face-off draw in the X zone and passed it across out front to Tara Morning (Aurora, ON) who fired it past Ariana Orasanin (Ancaster, ON) in the StFX net.
On the next rush off the center face-off the X-Women scored as Emily Power (Airdrie, AB) fed the puck to Jenna MacDonald (Osgoode, ON) who broke in on the Tigers net and potted a backhander high past Petricca.
The X-Women thought they scored again with only 18 seconds left on the clock but the goal was waved off due to a player in the goal crease.
StFX held a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes and outshot Dalhousie 21-8 in the opening period.
Petricca made some key saves for the Tigers early in the second period including a stacked pads save off Daley Oddy (Cranbrook, BC) and a shorthanded breakaway attempt from Kara Power.
The lone goal of the second period came at 13:33 when Bujold (unassisted) put in a loose puck after it had been banged around in front of the Tigers goal in traffic.
Morning, the Tigers Subway player of the game, had a late second period scoring chance but was turned aside by Orasanin. She almost connected on a 2-on-1 with Biana Canadé (Mississauga, ON) eight minutes into the third period.
The X-Women put the game away when they scored consecutive power play goals at 13:50 and 14:32. The first one came while on a 5-on-3 advantage after the Tigers had an unsportsmanlike bench penalty tacked onto a minor penalty. Nicole Corcoran (Bloomfield, PE) made good on a shot from the point from Bujold and Heather Tillsley (Aurora, ON).
Bujold, the StFX Subway player of the game, then tallied her second goal of the night 38 seconds later as she picked up the puck from Kara Power behind the Tigers net and skated out front, picking the top corner.
X-Women defense Nicole Halladay (Smith Falls, ON) rounded out the StFX scoring with 1:27 left to play as her blast from the point got through traffic to beat Petricca. The power play goal was assisted by Emily Power and Connor Garagan (Fredericton, NB).
Orasanin, with 17 saves, earned her first-ever playoff victory for the X-Women. Petricca took the loss for Dalhousie with 37 saves.
With the win the X-Women take a 1-0 series lead as the best-of-three quarter-final playoffs shift to Halifax on Saturday, February 18th. Puck drop is 7:00 pm at the Forum. Game 3, if necessary, will be back at StFX on February 20th.
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