Antigonish, NS – The STFX X-Women held on for a 4-3 win over the Dalhousie Tigers in a Tuesday evening tangle in AUS action at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
There was a flurry of scoring action within a one-minute period early in the first period. Tigers forward Abby Wamboldt (Hammonds Plains, NS) was left open alone in the slot and she fired a low shot past X goaltender Brooklyn Oakes (Richmond Hill, ON) at the 4:22 mark.
Just 25 seconds later Lainey Joyce (Vancouver, BC) connected on a pass from Maggy Burbidge (Falmouth, NS) to even the game. Burbidge then assisted on STFX's second goal scored by Ashley Garnett (Dartmouth, NS) 35 seconds later. Tigers netminder Grace Beer (Oakville, ON) made the initial save off Burbidge's shot but Garnett was there to pot the rebound.
Tea Pearce (Calgary, AB) made it 3-1 in favour of the home team when she repositioned a point shot from Kya Moss (Port Moody, BC).
All three of the X-Women's opening goals were the first of the regular season for freshman Joyce, Garnett and Pearce.
STFX outshot the Tigers 24-4 in the opening period.
The lone goal of the second period came at 16:48 off the stick of Tigers forward Kennedy Whelan (Alliston, ON) as she picked up a loose puck behind the X net, skated around the top of the face-off circle and netted a high shot past Oakes into the STFX net.
The X-Women had a pair of power play opportunities in the middle frame but remained off the scoresheet. Shots at the end of 40 minutes favored STFX, 36-9.
Whelan then scored her second goal of the game to tie it up 3-3 just 1:12 into the third period as she took a pass along in the slot and found the high side of the net.
The Tigers then pressured on a power play chance shortly after as STFX was called for too many players on the ice.
The score remained deadlocked until veteran X forward Anna MacCara (Trenton, NS) tallied at 6:45, picking up the puck off a fortunate bounce in front of the DAL net and she made no mistake in alone on Beer.
Dalhousie continued to pressure for the equalizer and pulled Beer from the net with 1:42 to play but the X-Women held them off and took home the 4-3 win.
MacCara earned player of the game and first star honours with two points on the night, including the game winner. Dalhousie's Whelan was second star and Joyce picked up third star honours.
Oakes posted 15 saves in the X net as she picked up her first win of the season. Beer turned aside 40 shots for the Tigers who were outshot 44-18 in the match.
The X-Women will next see action on Saturday evening, October 14th when they travel to Charlottetown to take on the UPEI Panthers. The Tigers will be hosting the UNB Reds, also on Saturday night.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics