London, ON – The Concordia Stingers proved too much of an offensive power for the StFX X-Women, defeated the AUS finalists by an 8-1 score Friday evening in the U SPORTS quarterfinal game.
The Stingers scored two goals in each of the first and third periods and netted four in the second period as they outshot the X-Women by a 44-21 margin.
X-Women head coach Ben Berthiuame noted after the game that "We faced a very good hockey team tonight. They are fast and we didn't jump into spots on our coverage at times and they scored on their opportunities."
"We had some opportunities early and throughout the game and we didn't score and they did and that happens. We feel short tonight but we will get ready to go for tomorrow."
With the loss the X-Women are now relegated to the consolation side of the tournament bracket. They will meet Queen's in the second consolation semifinal at 1:00 pm EST on Saturday.
In preparation for that game, Coach Berthiaume said "the girls need to take the night, deal with this loss because it is a tough one. We'll then get up and watch some video on Queen's and start preparing for that game because we still have an opportunity to win two hockey games over the weekend which is big for us."
The quarterfinal game started off with StFX killing off a 5-on-3 power play opportunity by the Stingers in the opening five minutes of play as X received two minor infraction penalties only 16 seconds apart.
Concordia scored two first period goals just over a minute apart midway through the period to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Goal scorers were Vyckie Gelinas and Marie-Pascale Bernier on the power play.
The X-Women had their own power play opportunity late in the period but were unable to connect, being outshot 13-4 by the RSEQ champions in the opening period.
Carley Molnar, playing in her native hometown of London, Ont. played a solid period for the X-Women, making several key saves.
Stingers forward Claudia Dubois increased their lead to 3-0 five minutes into the second period on a quick shot that beat Molnar over the shoulder, hitting the cross bar and dropping in over the goal line.
Kate Gotaas backhanded a rebound out of the air to bat the puck in past Stingers goaltender Katherine Purchase at the 7:14 mark of the second period to get the X-Women on the board. Santana Gravelle assisted on the play.
Concordia replied with a goal of their own less than two minutes later to re-establish the two-goal lead at 4-1 as Bernier netted her second marker of the evening. They then padded their lead to 5-1 with nine minutes to play in the period off a goal by Lidia Fillion.
A late power play goal with only 19 seconds left in the period by Keriann Schofield rounded out a four-goal barrage in the middle period by the Stingers as they were up 6-1 on the X-Women after 40 minutes.
Shots in the middle period favored the Stingers at 17-9.
Concordia's seventh goal came midway through the third period off the stick of Sophie Gagnon on a shot from the top of the face-off circle. They rounded out the scoring with another goal by Gagnon with just over two minutes left in the game.
The player of the game for the Stingers was their captain Marie-Joëlle Allard, who had three assists on the night, while U SPORTS first team All-Canadian defense Lindsey Donovan picked up player of the game honours for the X-Women.
With the win the Stingers move on to play the Manitoba Bisons in the semifinals. That game will be played Saturday evening at 7:00 pm following the first semifinal at 4:00 pm between Saskatchewan and the host Western squad.
Montreal and Saint Mary's will meet in the first consolation semifinal game Saturday at 10:00 am, followed by the X-Women and Queen's at 1:00 pm.
All games are webcast live on www.sportscanada.tv/sports.
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Courtesy StFX Athletics Sports Information