Huskies hand X-Women first loss of the season

With contributions from Brian Mosher, SMU Athletics

In the final AUS regular season game of the first half, the Saint Mary's Huskies (10-2-0) handed the CIS ranked No. 4 X-Women (11-1-0) their first and only loss to date, posting a 3-0 shutout victory in Halifax Saturday evening.

Two first period goals proved to be the difference as the Huskies moved to within two points of the first place X-Women, despite being outshot 21-13 in the game.

StFX head coach David Synishin commented, "I felt our first period was very good, but we found ourselves down 2-0 after two breakdowns."

"We had ample opportunity to put the puck in the net but just didn't get the job done tonight."

Laura Polak got the Huskies on the board 9:46 into the game, then Brianna Soper followed up with their second goal with just under two minutes to play in the opening period.

Polak gathered a loose puck from a scramble in front of X-Women goaltender Sojung Shin and scored on her backhand. Haylee Tretiak and Breannae Lanceleve assisted on the play.

StFX was quick to counter and drew two consecutive Huskies penalties to earn 1:30 of 5-on-3 power play time. The X-Women peppered Cooke with shots during the power play but the Huskies netminder was up to the task, stopping four shots including one in close from CIS point leader Alex Normore.

StFX continued to hem the Huskies in their own zone but with three minutes remaining in the period, Saint Mary's relieved the pressure with a fast breakout. As the X-Women headed for a change, Brianna Soper sped down the left wing, delayed a shot until traffic amassed in front of Shin, and then whipped a wrist shot into the top right corner. Caitlyn Schell and
Chelsea Osbaldeston picked up the helpers.

The Huskies converted the two goals on only four shots in the first period, compared to the X-Women's 16.

The second period elapsed without any scoring but there were several chances from each team. While Huskies captain Rebecca Mosher was in the penalty box, Cooke battled through a screen by Daley Oddy to make a big save on a strong point shot from Nicole Corcoran.

Five minutes later, Saint Mary's were killing off another penalty when Huskies forward Rebecca Johnson intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, earning herself a breakaway. Johnson put a hard shot on net but the puck was swallowed up by Shin.

In the third period, the Huskies shut down the X-Women's offensive attack, allowing only three shots to get through to Cooke. They added an insurance goal at 6:35 when Polak scored her second goal of the game, unassisted on the powerplay, firing home a puck in the slot.

Cooke picked up the shutout victory in the Huskies net with 21 saves, shutting down the high powering StFX offence.

Shin took the loss for the X-Women who close out the opening half of AUS play in first place with an 11-1-0 record and 22 points.

StFX will break for the holidays, resuming action January 4th and 5th when they travel to UPEI and Moncton.