X-Women fall to Carabins in U SPORTS consolation final

London, ON – In the U SPORTS consolation final to decide fifth place in the tournament, the StFX X-Women fell 7-1 to the RSEQ finalist Montreal Carabins.

StFX would like to have the second period back as the Carabins netted six unanswered goals in the middle frame on route to the win.

Fatigue was a factor for the X-Women squad who played their third game in as many days and second one in less than 24 hours. Head coach Ben Berthiaume noted, "Playing three games in 39 hours is tough for anyone, we saw it especially in the second period. I think we were going a little bit on adrenaline in the first and we were ok, but we died off in the second."

"I have to give credit to the girls though in the third period as they fought back and they weren't going to go out without a fight even though we were down by quite a bit so I am pretty proud of them."

It was StFX who scored first in the game as forward Lydia Schurman tallied at 7:15 of the first period, squeezing the puck past Carabins netminder Marie-Pier Chabot. Linemates Emily Power and Alley Goodreau had assists on the play.

The X-Women's 1-0 lead held up after the first period despite being outshot 12-7 in the opening frame.

They started the second period shorthanded as the Carabins had a 5-on-3 power play opportunity which they converted into a goal just 27 seconds in. Kim Poirier netted the goal for Montreal to knot the game at 1-1.

The line of Jenna MacDonald, Kate Gotaas and Kristen McKinley had a great scoring chance for X four minutes into the period on an odd-man rush but were stopped by Chabot.

The Carabins then scored three goals in a 1:19 time span to take a commanding 4-1 lead over the X-Women seven minutes into the second period. Markers were scored by Alexandra Boulanger, Emmanuelle Passard and Laurie Mercier.

At the 11:45 mark, Carabins forward Annie Germain got around the X defense to snap a wrister over the shoulder of Molnar from the slot. They added their sixth goal with just over three minutes left to play in the period as Poirier scored her second of the day, though Molnar had thought the puck was covered.  

With a 14-5 shot advantage in the middle period, the Carabins lead 6-1 after 40 minutes.

Freshman goaltender Cassidy McEwan replaced Molnar in the StFX net for the third period. Catherine Dubois solved her early with a goal just over three minutes in.

The 7-1 score held for the remainder of the game as the Carabins outshot the X-Women 31-16.

The lone goal scorer Lydia Schurman received player of the game honours for StFX while Poirier earned the same distinction for Montreal with her two-goal effort.

With the loss the X-Women place sixth in the championship event while the Carabins end up fifth. Saskatchewan and Concordia are due to play for the bronze medal, while Manitoba and Western will meet to decide the gold medal winner later Sunday evening.

The game marked the final one for several X-Women senior athletes including Daley Oddy, Emma Winters, Sarah Bujold, Jenna MacDonald, Nicole Halladay, Nicole Corcoran and Sarah Johnston. Both Oddy and Corcoran are fifth year athletes.  

Coach Berthiaume commented on the character of the senior athletes on the team noting, "You see these players come in their first year and play four and five years and you are going to miss them. It's a sad day as well cause they are hanging up their jersey for their career and it's hard to see them go but there's a lot of character in those players and that's what makes this program special."

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Courtesy StFX Sports Information