ANTIGONISH, N.S. — The host St. FX X-Women jumped out to an early lead en route to a 4-3 victory over the UPEI Panthers in Game 1 of their Atlantic University Sport women’s hockey semifinal.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series goes Tuesday at 7 p.m. at MacLauchlan Arena. Game 3, if necessary, would be played Thursday in Antigonish, N.S.
X-Women captain Lydia Schurman, a forward from Summerside, scored 2:41 into the game and Tyra Meropoulis, the conference’s MVP, doubled the lead less than two minutes later. Jayden Thompson made it 3-0 heading to the second period.
UPEI’s Lexie Murphy, a rookie forward from Kensington, scored 2:09 into the middle stanza and Summerside’s Taylor Gillis cut the deficit to one seven minutes later.
Carly Burrows restored the two-goal lead 2:54 into the third period. Gillis made it 4-3 with her second of the night with 1:41 left but that’s as close as the Panthers would get.
Jolena Gillard and Murphy each had two assists while captain Rachel Colle added one.
Jamie Johnson stopped 24 shots for the win while Camille Scherger stopped 31 shots in the loss.
The Panther went 1-for-7 on the power play and killed all five of the X-Women’s chances with the man advantage.
