Halifax, NS - The StFX X-Women kept their 2018 Subway AUS championship dreams alive with a 2-1 overtime win over the Saint Mary's Huskies on Sunday night at Alumni Arena.
Sarah Bujold (Riverview, NB) netted the game winner 5:47 into the overtime period to win it for the X-Women.
The best of three series is now even at 1-1.
"We came in with our backs up against the wall and it's good to be able to get the win and go home (for game three)," said X-Women head coach Ben Berthiaume.
The X-Women were without the services of conference MVP and the nation's leading scorer Daley Oddy who was a serving a one-game suspension for a major penalty she took late in Friday's game.
Santana Gravelle (Lumsden, SK) tallied in regulation for the X-Women and Carley Molnar (London, ON) made 33 saves in the win.
Rebecca Clark (Keswick, ON) finished with 18 saves for SMU. Hannah Askin (Waterloo, ON) scored the lone goal for the Huskies.
"There were two good teams going at it and sometimes your not going to get the results you want," said Huskies head coach Chris Larade.
"For 60-minutes we had a good shot advantage and we carried a lot of the play but in four-on-four for whatever reason we went into a 'let's play not to lose' instead of just going out to get it and it cost us."
It was a tight checking game in which scoring chances were tough to come by.
Askin opened the scoring 10:47 into the first period. Laura Polak (Bedford, NS) sent the puck to Breanna Lanceleve (Middle Sackville, NS) in front she picked it up and tapped it to Askin who slid it home.
Gravelle tied things up just 20-seconds into the second frame. Just as a SMU penalty expired, Bujold played the puck back to Lindsey Donovan (Miramichi, NB) on the right-point. Donovan put it on a tee for Gravelle who one-timed it five-hole from just inside the left circle.
The third period was back and forth but neither team could find a way to break through.
Bujold found the winner 5:47 into overtime. Donovan made a poke check at the X-Women blue-line then Kate Gotaas (Sherwood Park, AB) picked it up and went back the other way. She flew into the SMU zone and dropped it for Bujold who blasted a one-timer low blocker from the top of the left circle.
Bujold received Subway Player of the Game honours for her overtime heroics.
The X-Women win sends the series back to Antigonish for the deciding Game 3. Puck drop will be 7:00 pm at the StFX Keating Centre on Tuesday, March 6th.
Courtesy Cam Honey-Webb, SMU Sports Information