Reds Upset Tommies

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Reds upset the U SPORTS No. 5 St. Thomas Tommies 3-1 on Wednesday.

It was UNB's first win over the Tommies in this new era of Reds women's hockey, the first in four regular season meetings.

Hayley Hallihan's (Miramichi, NB) second period goal stood as the winner.

"It was a nice pass by Sage (McElroy-Scott)," said Hallihan. "We said, before the game, just get everything on net, so I just fired it and it went in."

Hallihan finished with a goal and an assist, and was named the game's third star.

The visitors opened the scoring, on the power-play, at 6:09 of the first period.

Lily George (Garden Village, ON) let a knuckle ball of a shot go from the top of the left face-off circle and it beat Tommies netminder Abby Clarke (Springdale, NL).

Hallihan's goal came at 6:59 of the second, and gave UNB a 2-0 lead.

Jenna MacLean (Wilcox, SK) made it 3-0 at 6:40 of the third period, beating Clarke after an end-to-end rush in the dying seconds of a power-play.

Then, on a power-play of their own, and on their 23^rd shot of the game, the Tommies finally solved Reds goalie Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC).

At 8:35 of the third, Olivia Reid (Aurora, ON) pounced on a rebound and shoveled the puck into the net.

With time winding down, the Tommies looked to pull Clarke in favour of an extra attacker, but the Reds fore-check kept the home side penned in their end of the rink for much of the final four minutes of the game.

"It felt good. We owed them one, for sure," said Woodland, of the Reds win. "I'm glad that the team came together and we really gave it to them."

The win was the third this season for the Reds over a nationally-ranked opponent and snapped the Tommies 12-game win streak.

"We ended their streak and it felt really good," said Woodland.

Despite a two-goal cushion late in the game, Reds head coach Sarah Hilworth wasn't willing to celebrate until time expired.

"They're too good of a team to feel comfortable," she said. "They're a very good third period team, and that's probably why they're in the position they are, so at no point did we feel comfortable and at no point did we make our team feel comfortable."

Woodland, who stopped 25 of the 26 Tommies shots, was named the Subway Player of the Game.

Clarke, who gave up three goals on 19 shots, took the loss.

With the win, the Reds are now 9-7-3 and sit in fourth place in the Atlantic University Sport standings.

The Tommies are now 16-3-0, still sitting atop the conference standings.

St. Thomas hosts St FX on Friday evening.

The Reds travel to Mount Allison for a Sunday afternoon affair.

"It's fun to play in games like that," said Hilworth. "You can tell there is some rivalry there and a little bit of angst, so in games like that, where a little bit more is on the line, it feels good to get that win."

RECAP AND PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics