Mounties down Tommies 3-2 in Fredericton

(FREDERICTON, N.B.) - The St. Thomas Tommies fell short against the Mount Allison Mounties in AUS women's hockey action Sunday afternoon at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

All three of the Mounties' goals  were scored in the first period, on their way to a 3-2 victory.

The Mounties were led by their goaltender and first star Keri Martin who made 30 saves to pick up her fourth win of the season. The goals for the Mounties came off the sticks of Lindsay James, Mackenzie Lalonde and Kelly Matarazzo, while captain Kristen Cooze chipped in with two assists in the win.

"It was really important for us to get out to a quick start and get quality shots. We didn't have a lot of shots in the first but the ones we got were quality and we made them count," Mounties head coach Zach Ball said.

The Tommies were backed by Eliza Snider and Lauren Henman, who both found the back of the net in the loss.

"We're a pretty resilient team, but we dug ourselves an early hole and we didn't get many bounces our way," Snider said.

Just 24 seconds into the game James beat Tommies goaltender Taylor Cook from just outside the crease to give the Mounties an early lead.

Mount Allison kept the pressure on and midway through the first Lalonde threw one at the net and, after taking an odd bounce, got by Cook.

Late in the frame, the Tommies cut the deficit to one when Snider scored her first of the season on the power play.

Just as it looked like the momentum was swinging in St. Thomas' favour, Matarazzo scored to give the Mounties a 3-1 advantage after 20 minutes.

The second period saw the Tommies begin to take control of the game—they got scoring chance after chance but were unable to beat Martin.

"It's too bad that the three posts we hit didn't fall back to the other side and in the net," Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said.

The Tommies found the back of the net with five minutes left in the second when Henman finished off a gorgeous pass from Thomson on a 2-on-1.

St. Thomas came out in the third looking for the equalizer, but once again Martin was there to stop everything that came her way.

The Tommies pulled Cook late in the game and put the puck on net, but the Mounties held on to win the game.

"Mount Allison came back after we beat them 9-2 last game and they played a good game. I thought we carried the puck for most of the game, but I won't take anything away from them. They capitalized on their chances and we didn't," Murphy said.

The Tommies and the Mounties will get another crack at each other Nov. 29 at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

Source: Robert Johnson for St. Thomas Sports Information