X-Women fall 5-2 to Stingers in U SPORTS quarterfinal

Elmira, ON – The STFX X-Women fell to the defending U SPORTS champion Concordia Stingers 5-2 in the first quarterfinal game of the 2025 U SPORTS national championship Thursday afternoon at the Woolwich Memorial Centre.

Led by Jessymaude Drapeau who scored three goals, the Stingers demonstrated why they were one of the top scoring teams in the country this season.

Both teams delivered several shots on goal in the opening five minutes as the first period was fast paced, back and forth action.

The Stingers got into penalty trouble late in the period and STFX had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:24, but were unable to find the back of the net.

It was then Concordia's chance on the power play as they had a pair of chances, but X-Women goaltender Bianca Zak was solid in the X end.

The opening period remained scoreless as Concordia had a slight 12-10 edge in shots.

The X-Women had the early momentum in the second period, scoring goals 1:22 apart. The first X goal came 2:05 in as U SPORTS second team all-Canadian Mackenzie Lothian beat Stingers netminder Jordyn Verbeek off a shot from the point.

Lothian then assisted on the second goal while the X-Women were on the power play, feeding the puck to defensive partner Terryn Mozes, who one-timed the shot from the top of the face-off circle.

The Stingers cut the lead in half three minutes later as Jessymaude Drapeau scored in tight, pushing in the puck off a pass from first team all-Canadian forward Emilie Lussier.

Landyn Pitts and Tea Pearce had a nice 2-on-1 chance for STFX midway through the period but Verbeek held her ground.

A minute later the Stingers tied it up as Meagan Bureau-Gagnon tucked the puck off a wrap-around from behind the X net. The goal came at 11:21 as momentum shifted in the favour of the RSEQ finalists.

Drapeau then netted her second and third goals of the afternoon to complete her hat trick, leading the Stingers to four unanswered markers.

Drapeau scored on the power play at 12:13, then again with 1:56 left to play as she got around the X defense and tucked the puck in short side to put her squad up 4-2.

The X-Women outshot the Stingers 10-7 in the middle period but it was the Stingers who skated into intermission with the two-goal lead.

STFX fought off a Stingers power play to start the third period. They then pressured to overcome the deficit, but a turnaround led to the fifth Concordia goal at 7:13. Drapeau connected with Lussier on a 2-on-1 opportunity to give the Stingers a 5-2 lead.

The X-Women had a power play chance with six minutes to go. They pulled Zak from the net in favour of the extra attacker but couldn't solve Verbeek.

The net remained empty late in the period as X tried to get back into the game, firing shots in the final three minutes of play, but the Stingers held on for the win.

The X-Women outshot the Stingers 32-27 in the match.

Player of the game honours went to Concordia's Drapeau and STFX's Lothian.

On a historical note, prior to today's game, Concordia and STFX had previously met on five occasions at the national championship with Concordia taking wins in 2018 (8-1, quarterfinal), 2002 (8-4, 5^th place game), 2002 (9-0, pool play) and 1999 (13-0, pool play). STFX's lone win came at the 2005 championship with a 2-1 win in the fifth place game.

With the win the Stingers will advance to the semifinal game on Saturday at 4:00 pm against the winner of the Alberta-Waterloo semifinal.

The X-Women are now relegated to the consolation side of the championship. They will play in the losing team from the Alberta-Waterloo Saturday at 10:00 am in the first consolation semifinal game. A win Saturday would advance them to the fifth place game Sunday, also at 10:00 am.

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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics

2025 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship Schedule
All times local Eastern time

Thursday, March 20
Game 1 Quarterfinal:  Concordia (5) vs. STFX (4), 1:00 pm
Game 2 Quarterfinal:  Alberta (1) vs. Waterloo (8), 7:00 pm

Friday, March 21
Game 3 Quarterfinal:  UBC (6) vs. Bishop's (3), 1:00 pm
Game 4 Quarterfinal:  UNB (7) vs. Toronto (2), 7:00 pm

Saturday, March 22
Game 5 Consolation Semifinal:  Loser G1 vs Loser G2, 10:00 am
Game 6 Consolation Semifinal:  Loser G3 vs Loser Game 4, 1:00 pm
Game 7 Semifinal:  Winner G1 vs Winner G2, 4:00 pm
Game 8 Semifinal:  Winner G3 vs Winner G4, 7:00 pm

Sunday, March 23
Game 9 Fifth Place Game:  Winner G5 vs Winner G6, 10:00 am
Game 10 Bronze Medal Game:  Loser G7 vs Loser G8, 2:00 pm
Game 11 Gold Medal Game:  Winner G7 vs Winner G8, 6:00 pm

Championship Website:  https://en.usports.ca/championships/2024-2025/2024-25_wice/index

Championship Results:  https://en.usports.ca/sports/wice/composite?d=2025-03-23

Championship Broadcasts:  CBC Sports or CBC Gem or CBC YouTube