X-Women win opening playoff game over Mounties

The sixth seeded Mount Allison Mounties played a tough game against the top seeded and CIS ranked No. 5 X-Women at the Subway AUS championship, with the X-Women prevailing with a 3-1 victory in a game that went down to the wire.

Jenna Pitts’ power play goal at 9:04 of the third period was the difference for the X-Women. She capped off the game with an empty netter with 1:09 left to play for a two-goal performance.

StFX outshot the host Mounties 38-12 over the course of the game. Mounties goaltender Meghan Corley-Byrne was stellar in goal, making several highlight-reel stops, to keep her team in the fight.

Fourth year veteran netminder Katie Greenway stopped 11 shots in the win for the X-Women.

The first period saw the X-Women come out firing, outshooting the Mounties 10-1. Alex Normore and Erin Brophy had great scoring chance midway through the period on a 2-on-1 chance but were stopped by Corley-Byrne. StFX took a 1-0 lead on a goal at 13:08 off a faceoff by freshman forward Schyler Campbell. Fellow freshman Taylor Dale picked up an assist on the play.
 
The one goal lead held through an entertaining second period that saw the X-Women outshoot the Mounties 16-5. Corley-Byrne made several key saves while on the penalty kill.

The X-Women nearly went up 2-0 as they had a 3-on-1 opportunity with three minutes left in the period but couldn’t pull the trigger on an open net. The AUS-leading X-Women outshot the Mounties 26-6 through 40 minutes of play.

The X-Women kept up the lopsided shot margin (12-6) in the third period, but it was Mounties forward Lindsay James who found the back of the net first, tying the three minutes into the period. James scored on a wraparound goal from MacKenzie Lalond.

Pitts’ go-ahead goal came on the power play on a shot from the point six minutes later as the X-Women regained their one-goal lead which they did not relinquish. AUS leading scorer assisted on the play. The same combo picked up the points on StFX’s empty net marker for the 3-1 victory.

With the win, the X-Women advance to meet the UPEI Panthers Saturday at 6:00 pm. The Panthers and Mounties will play Friday at 6:00 pm. The top team out of their pool of three will meet the top team coming out of the second pool in the championship game Sunday at 4:00 pm.

In pool B play, St. Thomas won a close 3-2 game over Moncton earlier in the day. Moncton and Saint Mary’s will play Friday, while the Tommies take the day off and meet the Huskies on Saturday.