With a convincing 8-1 victory over the St. Francis Xavier X-Women in quarter-final action Friday evening, the Concordia Stingers earned a spot in the medal round at the 2018 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship in London, Ont.
The victory sends the fourth-ranked Stingers to the semifinals to face the No. 1- seeded Manitoba Bisons who easily took down the Queen’s Gaels by a 4-0 score earlier in the day. The game is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m.
The winner will advance to the gold medal game on Sunday. The loser will play for the bronze medal.
Concordia took a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Vyckie Gélinas and Marie-Pascale Bernier.
In the second period the flood gates opened with the Stingers picking up four more goals. Claudia Dubois, Lidia Fillion, Keriann Schofield and Bernier helped put the team up 6-1 after 40 minutes.
Sophie Gagnon fired home two more goals in the third period to make the final score 8-1. Concordia outshot St. FX 44-21.
Goaltender Katherine Purchase picked up the win for the Stingers. She turned away 20 of 21 shots.
“They’re playing 60 minutes of hockey,” said Concordia head coach Julie Chu. “That’s the biggest compliment I could give to our players.”
The player of the game for the Stingers was captain Marie-Joëlle Allard who had three assists, while Lindsey Donovan earned the honours for the X-Women.
The fifth-seeded X-Women will meet Queen’s in consolation play on Saturday.
