Tommies Top X-Women to Increase AUS Lead

Fredericton, NB - The St. Thomas University Tommies topped the St. Francis Xavier X-Women 4-1 Friday night at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

The Tommies had their 12-game winning streak snapped at the hands of cross campus rival UNB Wednesday night, but came out firing on all cylinders Friday night.

Lauren Henman (Cow Bay, NS) wasted no time as she got STU on the board 27 seconds into the game, good for her Atlantic University Sport leading 15^th goal of the season.

"No, I'm not," said head coach Peter Murphy when asked if he still gets surprised by some of the things Henman does on the ice. "She has been here for five years, nothing surprises me anymore."

After the opening 30 seconds both teams turned up the intensity defensively, and both goaltenders were outstanding, stopping all shots faced through two periods, some in incredible fashion.

It wasn't until the eight-minute mark of the third period that we saw our second goal of the game. Second-year forward Megan Pardy (Courtice, ON) broke in and quickly deked to her back hand to slide in her first goal of the season to push the Tommie lead to 2-0.

"She's a really strong player. If she gets a breakaway there's a really good chance she's going to score a goal," said Murphy. "She is just sort of finding her way in our league. I am expecting big things from Megan moving forward, whether its this year or into her next years."

The final period was vastly different from the two that preceded it. It saw four total goals and wide-open play from both teams.

Three minutes after Pardy scored, Olivia Reid (Aurora, ON) scored her seventh of the season, on a nice feed from Henman behind the net.

Lindsay Donovan (Miramichi, NB) would answer for the X-Women, as she stepped into the slot and wired a wrist shot over the glove of Abby Clarke (Springdale, NL) to cut the Tommies lead to 3-1.

StFX would continue the pressure as Reid took a hooking penalty with less than three minutes left in the game, but on the powerplay Kristen McKinley (Rothesay, NB) would take an unfortunate penalty as she went hard to the net with the puck.

Henman would score her second of the game into the empty net, her 16^th of the season in 16 games played, to seal the 4-1 win for the Tommies (17-3-0), extending their lead in the AUS standings to nine points over StFX (11-5-3).

Clarke made 25 saves for the win, continuing her strong play this season. Carley Molnar (London, ON) made 27 saves in the loss.

StFX heads to Sackville to face Mount Allison on Saturday, while the Tommies will head to Moncton on Friday to face the Aigles Bleues.