(MONCTON, NB) The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues scored a 4-3 shootout win over the UNB REDS Saturday night, in Moncton.
Moncton's Cassandra Call (Navan, ON) was the only player to score in the shootout.
The teams played through a scoreless first period before erupting for a combined six goals in the next two.
Moncton took a 3-0 lead in the second period.
The REDS fought back to tie the game 3-3 in the third.
Moncton's Cahterine Longchamps (Airdrie, AB) opened the scoring 35 seconds into the second period.
Shani Rossignol (Notre Dame de Lourdes, NB) made it 2-0 at 1:16, the puck eluding REDS' goaltender Cassie McCallum (Rothesay, NB) on an awkward bounce.
"I was tracking the shot high, and it took a sudden drop I wasn't expecting and fell through my legs," said McCallum.
Alexia Desforges (Clarence-Rockland, ON) gave Moncton a 3-0 lead, scoring at 4:13 of the second.
"I think at first we were a little bit frustrated because it's hard to be down 3-0," said REDS defender Lindsey Smith (Onslow, NS). "But we all pushed each other up and said, you know, we've done it before and we can do it again."
The third period belonged to UNB.
Payton Hargreaves (Whitby, ON) began the comeback, scoring a short-handed goal less than two minutes in.
Then, working on the power-play, Frederike Cyr (Candiac, QC) and Lillian George (Nipissing First Nation) fed Lauren Carter (Milton, ON), in front of the Moncton net, who made it a 3-2 game.
With time winding down, Smith found herself with a clear lane to the net and her slap-shot from the blue line tied the game with less than three minutes to play.
"At first, there was a girl that was coming out on me and I was a little bit hesitant to shoot because I didn't want to hit the shin pad, but I saw a lane to the net, ripped it, and it went in and I think it really got the team going," said Smith.
The game was still tied after overtime and Call's goal won it for Moncton in the ensuing shootout.
Annick Boudreau (Memramcook, NB) was awarded Subway's Player of the Game. She made 34 saves in regulation and overtime, and shut-out the REDS in the shootout.
The REDS return home and will host UPEI on Friday. Game time is 7:00pm.
"We need to be really hungry, win every battle and get pucks to the net like we were," said Smith. "I think capitalizing on our opportunities will be huge and obviously UPEI is going to be a hard battle, but we will be coming in even hungrier after this loss. We'll learn from it and get better for the next game."
The Aigles Bleues will travel to Halifax on Friday to face-off against the Saint Mary's Huskies. That game is scheduled for a 7:00pm start too.
RECAP BY: Madison Tucker/for UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Evan Richtsfeld/UNB Athletics