Tommies Bested 5-3 by X-Women in Game Three of AUS Semifinal Series

Tommies Bested 5-3 by X-Women in Game Three of AUS Semifinal Series

The St. Thomas University Tommies were bested 5-3 by the St. Francis Xavier X-Women in game three of the Subway AUS women's hockey semifinal series in front of 579 spectators at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

With the win, the X-Women move on to the championship series and the U SPORTS National Championships.

"They were the better team today, I thought," Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said after the game.  "We had a little bit of jump and energy in the second and third, but when you get down three goals it's tough."

The X-Women opened the scoring with a power play goal from Kara Power, who finished a great feed from Daley Oddy.

The Tommies responded on the next sequence as Emily Oleksuk set up Lauren Henman to tie the game 1-1.

Just 13 seconds later, the X-Women reclaimed the lead off a nice snipe from Jenna MacDonald. At the 14:35 mark, MacDonald beat Tommies netminder Abby Clarke for her second goal of the period and a 3-1 lead for the X-Women.

"She's a fast, quick player that will take advantage of opportunities," Murphy said of StFX's MacDonald. "There's nobody on that team that you can just leave open in front of the net. You have to watch everybody, because they all have the potential to score."

The Tommies kept battling and were rewarded with a power play goal from Oleksuk at 16:10, which cut the X-Women lead to 3-2.

 "In between the first and the second we told them we have to pressure," Murphy said. "We can't worry about giving up the next goal because we have to pressure so we can get the next one."

Early in the second, Power doubled the X-Women lead after beating Clarke top corner on a breakaway. The momentum stayed with the X-Women throughout the frame and they capitalized with a goal from Emily Power to take a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The Tommies pressured throughout the third period and managed to close the gap to 5-3 with a power play marker from Henman at 16:56. They pulled Clarke in the final minute of the game, but weren't able to beat Orasanin.

Power earned Player of the Game honours for the X-Women and Henman got the nod for the Tommies.

Orasanin turned away 19 shots for StFX in the win, while Clarke stopped 20 in the loss for the Tommies.