Submitted by
Wray Perkin, Mount Allison sports information, Argosy
SACKVILLE, N.B. – The matchup for the Subway AUS women's hockey championship is set. After Saint Mary's took a 3-1 win over St Thomas earlier today, the St. FX X-Women came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 against the UPEI Panthers in Game 6 of the tournament.
UPEI stormed out to a 2-0 lead, with Kiana Strand opening the scoring 2:21 into the game with a powerplay goal. The Panther lead was extended to 2-0 when Samantha Sweet took advantage of a bad giveaway inside the X-Women zone, making no mistake on a high shot.
Before the first period was done, the X-Women's top-ranked powerplay capitalized on an opportunity when Jenna Pitts blasted a hard shot through the crowd in front, squeaking it through UPEI goalie Kristy Dobson to cut the deficit.
Player of the Year Alex Normore tied the game in the second period, when she used a hard slapshot of her own racing down the left wing, finding the back of the net. Normore was named StFX's player of the game.
The game remained tied 2-2 throughout the third period, but needing a win by two goals to qualify for the final, UPEI pulled Dobson for the extra attacker with a powerplay advantage, but Daniela Falconio ended the game with an empty-net goal with 2.0 seconds remaining to score the game-winner and officially send StFX to the championship game.
Shots favoured the X-Women 28-15, including a second period which saw St. FX outshoot UPEI 11-3. Dobson was named UPEI's player of the game, making several acrobatic saves, while Kristy Garrow made 13 saves in the win for StFX.
The X-Women and Huskies will now tangle in the AUS championship game tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. at the local civic centre. All six games in the tournament thus far have been exciting, down-to-the-wire finishes, and tomorrow's final matchup promises a ton of excitement for all in attendance.
