Halifax, NS - The StFX X-Women beat the U Sports No. 3 ranked Saint Mary's Huskies 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday evening at Alumni Arena.
Sarah Bujold (Riverview, NB) led the way for the X-Women with a three-point night including the overtime winner. She now has 28-points on the season, padding her lead as the top point producer in the league this year.
With the win, the X-Women improve to 10-7 on the season. Their 20 points has them in fourth place in the standings, one point back of third place UPEI.
The loss drops the Huskies record to 13-1-3. The overtime point gives them 29 on the season, good for second place and two-points back of first place St. Thomas with seven games to play.
Daley Oddy (Cranbrooke, BC) and Connor Garagan (Fredericton, NB) also scored for the X-Women.
Arianna Orasanin (Ancaster, ON) made 20 saves in the win and improved her record to 6-1.
Caitlin Manning (Cambridge, ON), Haylee Tretiak (Teulon, MB) and Kate Barber (Aurora, ON) responded with goals for the Huskies.
Rebecca Clark (Keswick, ON) had 24 saves, as her record falls to 9-1-3.
Oddy opened the scoring 1:19 into the second period. Nicole Corcoran (Bloomfield, PE) moved the puck up to Bujold who streaked into the Huskies zone on the left wing and took a shot from the dot. Clark made a pad save and Oddy pounced on and buried the rebound to make it 1-0 in favor of the X-Women.
Manning tied the game at 1-1 at the 9:11 mark of the second. Nicole Blanche (Dunville, NF) controlled the puck in the left corner of the X-Women zone and fed Breanna Lanceleve (Middle Sackville, NS) in the slot. Orasanin made the save on Lanceleve's shot, and Manning went to her backhand to slide the rebound home.
Garagan restored the X-Women one-goal lead with a power play goal at 15:06 of the second period. Corcoran sent the puck from the left point down to Lydia Schurman (Summerside, PE) in the corner, who then moved toward the net below the goal line and made a pass to Garagan all alone on the doorstep. She quickly sent it five-hole for the goal.
The Huskies responded as Tretiak tied it once again at the 9:31 mark of the third period. Beatrice Harrietha (Guelph, ON) fired a shot from the point with Orasanin making the initial save, then another on a Siobhan Birch (Mississauga, ON) shot. After a wild scramble with the puck loose in the crease, Tretiak found it and sent it in with a backhand.
Just over a minute later, Bujold's first goal of the game came on the power play to make it 3-2 for the X-Women. Oddy worked the puck to Kara Power (New Glasgow, NS) on the right half wall, Power then sent it to Lindsey Donovan (Miramichi, NB) on the point in the middle of the ice. She fired on goal and after Clark made the save, the puck sat loose on top of the crease and Bujold jumped on it to slide it five-hole for her league-leading 16th goal of the season.
Barber evened the game for the Huskies at the 14:11 mark of the third. Gemma MacDonald (Blooming Point, PE) got the puck to Mary Worndl (Kitchener, ON) in the Huskies zone. Worndl was able to get into the neutral zone and race up the right wing into the X-Women zone. Barber drove hard for the back post setting up a 2-on-1, as she took a perfect pass from Worndl and sent it up over the right pad of Orasanin to force overtime.
Bujold scored the game winner on a great solo effort 4:34 into the extra frame. Donovan made a nice defensive play to break up a Huskies attack and poked the puck to Santana Gravelle (Lumsden, SK) who quickly sent it up ice for Bujold who was streaking through the neutral zone with a one-on-one opportunity. For her 17th goal of the season, Bujold went wide to the left and then cut to her backhand across the top of the crease. Clark got a pad on the initial attempt but Bujold stuck with it and knocked it home for the 4-3 victory.
The X-Women were 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Huskies went 0-for-5 including a 5-on-3 opportunity for 48 seconds in the first period.
Shots were 28-23 in favour of the X-Women.
Next up on the AUS schedule for the X-Women, they will host the St. Thomas Tommies on Sunday Jan. 22nd at 2:00 pm. The Huskies will host the same Tommies squad on Saturday Jan. 21st at Alumni Arena at 3:00 pm.
Courtesy Cam Honey-Webb, SMU sports information