ANTIGONISH, N.S. – The visiting UNB Reds skated to a 2-0 victory over the StFX X-Women Saturday evening at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
The X-Women began with the majority of the play in the Reds zone, but Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC) kept X at bay before her teammates settled into the game.
Hannah Matchett (Nanton, AB) opened the scoring at the 7:54 mark with UNB's first shot on net. Jenna MacLean (Wilcox, SK) picked up a StFX dump-in behind her net and her pass made it onto the stick of Tamina Kehler (Chilliwack, BC). Kehler made a good cross-ice pass to Matchett who fired a hard shot on net which handcuffed X netminder Cassidy McEwan (Lloydminster, AB). The puck trickled over her shoulder and into the back of the net.
The X-Women had a great opportunity to tie the game at the start of the second period with a short five-on-three advantage and then almost a full two-minute power-play. StFX controlled the face-off and purposefully entered the zone. Lindsay Donovan (Miramachi, NB) made a nice pass to X-Women leading goal scorer Tyra Meropoulis (Edson, AB), whose wrist shot was well saved by Woodland.
StFX outshot the Reds 18-12 in the frame but Woodland stood tall.
Luck was not on StFX's side this evening as their quality play was not rewarded with a goal. The UNB Reds added an insurance marker at 7:38 of the third period.
StFX's attempted breakout was thwarted by a bad bounce off a station and the puck found itself on the stick of Amanda Desrochers (St Francis Xavier, MB) whose shot on net trickled in. The two-goal lead was well-protected by the excellent Woodland in the nets for UNB.
For her 37 save performance, Woodland was named the first star and Subway player of the game. Reds defense Jenna MacLean was the second star and X-Women defense Hannah MacDonald was third star.
The X-Women are back in action on Sunday as they face UPEI at 3:00 pm in Charlottetown.
The Reds next play when they travel to Moncton to face the Aigles-Bleues next Friday evening at 7:00 pm.
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Courtesy Bart Sears, StFX Sports Information