(FREDERICTON, NB) The St. Thomas Tommies scored a 1-0 win over the UNB Reds Monday night to win their best of three Subway Atlantic University Sport semi-final two games to none.
Olivia Reid's (Aurora, ON) goal at 10:51 of the third period stood as the series clinching goal.
"There was traffic in front and I was just able to walk in and hit it off the post, and luckily it went in," said Reid.
The Tommies now advance to the AUS final, where they'll meet the St FX X-Women.
The visiting Tommies put some early pressure on the Reds, who came to life in the second half of the opening period. They were able to take the play to the Tommies and create a handful or scoring chances.
St. Thomas had a chance, just as time expired in the first, but Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC) was tight against the post to deny the shot, made from an angle.
On back-to-back power-plays mid-way through the second period, the Reds had multiple chances, but Abby Clarke (Springdale, NL) stood her ground in the St. Thomas net.
With 1:49 to play, Myah Bowal (Terrace, BC) gained possession of the puck behind Clarke. She centered a pass to Hayley Hallihan (Miramichi, NB), in the slot, but Clarke was able to get a piece of it and deflect it wide.
Just after the mid-way point of the third, Lauren Henman (Cow Bay, NS) brought the puck into the Reds zone. As she moved into the slot, she tied up with a Reds defender and the pair skated past the puck. Reid pounced on the loose puck and fired hard wrist shot past Woodland.
"You can't ever just think that one goal is going to do it," said Reid. "That momentum was there, but it was a tight game, all game, so we just kept going."
Down a goal, the Reds pulled Woodland with 1:26 to play, but couldn't capitalize with the extra attacker.
"Everyone is pretty emotional right now. It was an upsetting loss," said Reds defender Jenna MacLean (Wilcox, SK). "We're proud of ourselves and with what Sarah's done with the program, it was a pretty good year."
Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power-play, but Tommies held a slight advantage in shots, 23-19.
Clarke stopped all 19 to earn the shut-out and the win, while Woodland stopped 22 in the loss.
"It could've gone either way at any point.," said Reds head coach Sarah Hilworth. "We had opportunities to put it away, but they played well. I thought we gave them a heck of a game. We played, probably, some of our best hockey of this year."
"The fact we took a ranked team in Canada to the second round and lost by one goal each game, you can't be upset with that."
Disappointed with the end of her team's season, Hilworth is excited to see what the future holds.
"It's exciting to see this group and how they've progressed this year, and it's nice to know, as a coach, that the hard work that you've put in and the hard work that they've put in has accumulated to this moment, and at any point, it could've gone our way."
"We're focused on next year now, and not letting them do it to us again," said MacLean.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics