Huskies edge X-Women 4-3 in Game 1 of Subway AUS Women's Hockey semifinals

(HALIFAX, N.S.) - The top-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the fifth-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Women 4-3 in Game 1 of their best-of-three Subway AUS Women's Hockey Championship semi-finals series Friday night at Alumni Arena.

The Huskies got on the board first when Caitlyn Manning (Cambridge, Ont.) scored in close off a rebound at 14:04 to give themselves a 1-0 lead.

Saint Mary's increased their lead when Subway player of the game Breanna Lanceleve (Middle Sackville, N.S.) tallied in close off another rebound at 17:10 on the power play to make it 2-0.

The Huskies kept it up when Laura Polak (Bedford, N.S.) potted a marker off a wild scramble at 18:23 to make the score 3-0 after the first period.

In the second period, Saint Mary's picked up where they left off when Lanceleve got her second of the game when a attempted pass hit her skate and deflected into the net at 12:22 on the power play to take a 4-0 lead.

StFX finally got on the board when Kara Power (New Glasgow, N.S.) scored when she tipped in a point shot at 19:34 to cut the lead to 4-1 after two periods.

In the third, the X-Women continued to get back into it when Schyler Campbell (Galloway, N.B.) tallied off a point shot at 1:55 to make it 4-2.

StFX made things really exciting when Jenna MacDonald (Osgoode, Ont.) potted a marker from the slot at 8:54 to reduce the deficit to just one, but the X-Women could not complete the comeback.

The Huskies outshot the X-Women 36-28. Rebecca Clark (Keswick, Ont.) made 25 saves to get the win for the Huskies. Sojung Shin (Seoul, South Korea) stopped 32 shots in goal for the X-Women.

The Huskies will have a chance to sweep the series when they visit the X-Women in Game 2 on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Source: Saint Mary's Sports Communications