Montreal, QC – The StFX X-Women faced a tough Syracuse Orange squad Saturday afternoon in exhibition action at the Theresa Humes Tournament at Concordia, losing 7-0 to the NCAA Division I team.
Special teams played a big role in the game as the Orange netted three goals while on the power play, including the only two in the first period to take an early 2-0 lead. The first period goals came at 4:42 and then later in the period at 17:07 as the Orange outshot the X-Women 12-4 in the opening frame.
They added two more goals in the second period to extend their lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes. Both came even strength just past the 13-minute mark of the period and were scored only 23 seconds apart.
The X-Women weren't without their own chances as head coach Ben Berthiuame noted, "I thought for half of the game we played very well and created a lot of scoring chances, but we just couldn't put the puck in the net. We hit two cross bars and we were stopped on a breakaway."
"We were all over them in the second period, but just couldn't get a goal. When you make a mistake, they are going to hurt you and that is what they did."
Shots favoured the X-Women at 13-11 in the middle period, while the Orange had a slight 12-10 shot advantage in the third period.
Three more Syracuse markers in the final period brought the score to 7-0 as they shut out the X-Women. Final shots in the game were 35-27 in favour of Syracuse as Ady Cohen earned the victory in net with 27 saves. Cassidy McEwan, with 28 saves, was tagged with the loss for StFX.
Syracuse's Anonda Hoppner had a hat trick in the game and added an assist for a four-point game. Kelli Rowswell had a goal and three assists. Jessica Digirolamo, Logan Hicks and Abby Moloughney were the other goal scorers for the Orange.
It marked the second consecutive tournament win for the Orange who previously defeated the Nipissing Lakers of the OUA on Friday by a 4-2 margin. The X-Women drop to 0-2 in tournament play, they lost to the host Concordia Stingers 4-1 yesterday.
StFX will face-off in their final tournament game Sunday at 12:00 pm EST against Nipissing.
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