X-Women top Tigers 5-1 in final regular season game

(ANTIGONISH, N.S.) - The CIS No. 7-ranked StFX X-Women closed out AUS regular season play with a 5-1 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers Sunday afternoon at the Keating Centre.

The X-Women finish with an 18-4-2 record and 38 points atop the AUS conference, clinching a first round playoff bye. Saint Mary's (16-6-2) also clinched a first round bye.

Third place Moncton (14-9-1) will meet sixth place UPEI (9-13-2) in one AUS quarterfinal best 2-of-3 series, while fourth place St. Thomas (12-7-5) and fifth place Mount Allison (10-14-0) will meet in the other quarterfinal series. Dalhousie finished in seventh spot, out of playoff contention.

StFX and Saint Mary's await the winners for the second round, also a best 2-of-3 affair, the week of Feb. 24. St. Thomas is hosting the 2014 CIS national championship and will have an automatic entry as the host squad. The AUS champion will join them, or in the event of a St. Thomas conference victory, the AUS finalist.

In Sunday afternoon's match, the X-Women got out to a 1-0 lead after the first period of play on a Kara Power goal. She picked up a loose puck in front of the Tigers nets and beat goaltender Jeanne Morin midway through the period. Veteran forwards Erin Brophy and Molly MacDonald assisted.

The Tigers evened it up early in the second period as Sarah Robichaud scored a power-play goal at 3:51 from Elizabeth MacArthur and Fielding Montgomery, squeezing the puck past X-Women netminder Sojung Shin.

Freshman forward Lisa Downey netted her second goal of the season at 9:39 in what would prove to be the game winner. Fellow freshmen Connor Garagan and Nicole Corcoran assisted on the play.

Daley Oddy extended the StFX lead to 3-1 before the period was over, scoring a power-play marker on a nice give-and-go play with Taylor Dale. Jenna Pitts also picked up a helper.

Subway Player of the Game Taylor Dale picked up another assist in the third period as Alex Normore tipped in a Nicole Corcoran shot from the point at 13:05.

Pitts rounded out the StFX scoring with only six second left on the game clock. Fellow senior X athletes Brophy and Normore assisted. The three were honored pre-game by X-Women head coach David Synishin, along with MacDonald, Megan Innes, Daniela Falconio and Jenna Downey.

Sojung Shin needed only 12 saves for the victory as StFX outshot their opponents by a 37-13 margin.

Normore closed out the season as the CIS leading scorer with 48 points (15 goals, 33 assists). Four X-Women teammates joined her in the top five in AUS scoring including Oddy (25 points), Brophy (22 points) and Power (21 points).

The playoff schedule for the AUS semi-final series will be posted online on Feb. 24.