Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Women moved into a tie for second place in the AUS standings with a 2-0 shutout victory over the U SPORTS No. 3 ranked UPEI Panthers, Friday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre in front of over 300 fans.
The X-Women and Panthers now sit with identical records of 17-5-1 with 35 points apiece, two points back of the first place Saint Mary's Huskies (18-4-1).
StFX got out to a 1-0 lead after the first period with a goal by captain Lydia Schurman (Summerside, PE) just over seven minutes in.
Emerson Elliott (Aurora, ON) won a battle down low along the boards, dug the puck and got a nice pass out front to an open Schurman who made no mistake in putting it past UPEI netminder Camille Scherger (Lloydminster, AB).
Shots in the first period favoured the X-Women at 12-9.
They increased their lead at 13:20 of the second period as Patti-Anne Tracey (Antigonish, NS) connected with Lea MacLeod (Dartmouth, NS) and Amy Graham (Nepean, ON).
After good work by the X-Women to keep the puck in the Panthers zone, Graham got the puck to MacLeod who fired off a shot from the face-off circle and Tracey tipped it in.
Jamie Johnson (Victoria, BC) was strong in the X-Women net, making some key saves late in the period on a Panthers power play to keep the shutout intact. Her squad outshot the Panthers 16-9 in the middle period.
The third period was a defensive battle as the X-Women sat on their two-goal lead and were able to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard.
Johnson took the win in the X net with 22 saves on the night. She earned first star and Subway player of the game honours.
X-Women forward Tracey was the second star, while Panthers Scherger was the third star, posting 32 saves in the UPEI net.
The Panthers are back in action Sunday afternoon on home ice as they take on the fourth place UNB Reds (14-8-0).
StFX will host the first place Huskies Saturday night at 7:00 pm.
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Courtesy StFX Sports Information