Exhibition: X-Women nip Stingers 4-3 in overtime

The X-Women hockey team pulled off a 4-3 overtime win against the Concordia Stingers Saturday afternoon in exhibition play at the StFX Keating Centre.

X-Women veteran defense Laura Grant blasted a shot from the point through traffic at 5:43 into the ten minute four-on-four overtime period to secure the win for the X-Women against their QSSF opponent.

StFX held leads of 1-0 after the first period and 3-1 after the second before the Stingers came back to tie the game with two third period goals.

Catie Gavin opened the scoring for X with a first period goal 12:18 in. Jessica Shanahan and Abygail Laking assisted on the play. The X-Women outshot the Stingers 10-4 in the opening frame.

On the opening play of the second period, Nicole Hansom beat Stingers netminder Audrey Doyon-Lessard with a goal just 16 seconds in as the X-Women took a 2-0 lead. Assists went to Carolyn Campbell and Suzanne Fenerty.

The X-Women continued the pressure early on in the second period and had several good scoring chances. Sydnee Parker had a chance in alone and missed the far post just wide, while Shanahan and Laking almost converted on a 2-on-1 opportunity.

Later in the period the momentum shifted and the Stingers were pressuring in the StFX zone, resulting in heir first goal of the game at 13:15 off the stick of Catherine Rancourt.

Before the period was over, Laking scored on the power play for the X-Women, with only 12.9 seconds left. Her high shot beat Doyon-Lessard glove side. Grant assisted on the play, as did Shanahan with her second helper on the day.

StFX held a 24-12 shot advantage after two periods of play, but Concordia would come back in the third period to pull off the tie at the end of regulation. Catherine Desjardins scored their second goal of the game at 5:38 on the power play after X-Woman Haley MacDonald was sent to the box for holding. She tucked a quick pass from Erin Lally in front of the net under StFX goaltender Katie Greenway.

The X-Women had a good opportunity to score midway through the period on a 5-on-3 power play chance for one minute of play, but they could not convert. The Stingers picked up steam as the period went on and Greenway played well in the X net, making a few key saves.

Late in the game the Stingers were scrambling in front of the X net and Emilie Bocchia pounced on a loose rebound to score the tying goal with only 1:39 left on the clock, sending the game to overtime.

In the face-paced overtime period, Grant scored on the X-Women's third shot on net to seal the victory for the blue and white. Campbell had her second point of the game on the assist.

Greenway earned the win in nets for the X-Women while Doyon-Lessard took the loss for the Stingers.

With a 1-1 weekend record in exhibition play, the X-Women (7-2-1) will resume AUS competition Friday night with a game in Halifax against the third place Saint Mary's Huskies (6-3-0). The first place X-Women will then host the Dalhousie Tigers (6-2-0) on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm at the StFX Keating Centre.