After suffering a 5-3 setback to the Queen's Gaels on Friday night, the York University Lions women's hockey team returned to the ice with a befitting response in the back half of a home-and-home series with Queen's. Brooke Anderson scored a pair to help her team take down the visitors 3-2 on Saturday night at the Canlan Ice Sports.
Despite York being outshot 23-16, Juliana Thomson stood tall between the pipes for the Lions, stopping 21 of the 23 shots fired her way and earning her fourth win of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Lions opened up the first period outshooting the Gaels 7-4 and owned a 2-0 lead after one,
- The Lions opened the scoring with a Sydney Paulson setting up Brooke Anderson driving the net, and Anderson re-directed it past Lexi Giorgi, giving the red and white a 1-0 lead at 7:56.
- With just under three minutes remaining in the period, Jillian Milligan doubled the Lions lead on a beautiful solo rush, as she carried the puck essentially the length of the ice before gaining the Queen's zone and snapping one past Giorgi to make it 2-0
- Despite being outshot 11-3 in the second period, the Lions managed to make it a add to their lead at 5:22, when Anderson finished off a 2-on-1 by putting the puck short side on Giorgi. Her second of the night and seventh of the season made it a 3-0 contest.
- After several quality chances, Scout Watkins-Southward finally solved Thomson at 10:12 of the second, cutting the margin to 3-1 after another 20 minutes of play.
- The Gaels went back to work on the attack early in the third, and trimmed the Lions lead to one. Emma McKnight potted her sixth of the season at 4:18 to make it a 3-2 game. Queen's had its chances to tie, including a power play with 6:49 left, but could not find the equalizer, solidifying a 3-2 Lions win. In fact, that penalty was the final whistle of the game.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
"I thought we definitely got off to a really good start, which is tough after back-and-forth travels. I liked how we were skating and got a couple of early goals which was big for us. They did come hard at the end, but we were able to weather the storm and got it done." — head coach Dan Church
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will remain on home ice, as they will take on the TMU Bold for the third time this season. The season series rubber match goes Friday, Feb. 10 at the Canlan Ice Sports. Puck-drop is slated for 7:15pm.
