Serpico nets winner as hockey Martlets rally with five unanswered goals to rattle Gee-Gees
OTTAWA -- Rookie Alexandria Serpico of Calgary, Alta., scored the game-winner and league scoring leader Gabrielle Davidson added three helpers as No.2-ranked McGill erased a two-goal deficit and skated to a 5-2 triumph over Ottawa in CIS women's hockey at the Minto Sports Complex, Friday.
It marked McGill's 42nd consecutive victory in regular-season play versus the Gee-Gees, since a 2-1 setback in the nation's capital on Feb. 7, 2007, and improved the Martlets head-to-head record to 82-12-7 in 101 lifetime confrontations against Ottawa.
Goaltender Maude Levesque-Ryan, a 5-foot-8 freshman from Rimouski, Que., stood tall in the Gee-Gees net, making 53 saves in a losing cause as McGill had a 58-27 shot advantage. Despite the lopsided territorial differential, Ottawa actually led 2-0 with 25 minutes to go in the game, on a pair of goals from Carol-Ann Upshall.
"Ottawa's an improved team and they work real hard. It was a bit annoying for us because we had a lot of chances and a lot of shots but just couldn't get the puck in the back of the net," said Peter Smith, head coach at McGill. "We created some good chances and worked hard and when that happens, you want to be rewarded for that but the flip-side of that is that their goalie played real well."
Trailing by two, McGill exploded for five unanswered goals, sparked by Kelsie Moffatt, a senior rearguard from Pickering, Ont., who finally broke Levesque-Ryan's bid for a shutout at 15:54 of the middle period, batting in a rebound on the power-play. Moffatt, who also collected an assist, leads all RSEQ defencemen in points and is tied for 10th among CIS blueliners with nine points in 10 contests.
Tailing 2-1 after two periods, Leslie Oles connected on another power-play with her eighth of the season, evening the score at 5:07 of the third. The speedy senior from Beaconsfield, Que., is second in the RSEQ scoring race and fourth in the nation, with 20 points in 10 games, two behind Davidson, her linemate from Pte. Claire, Que., whose assists on the first three goals gave her a 10-12-22 record, which ranks second among all CIS scorers.
Less than three minutes later, Serpico tallied the winner with her third of the season, followed by an unassisted insurance marker from senior Erika Pyke, a native of Spryfield, N.S., to make it 4-2 at 17:38. Stefanie Pohlod, a senior froward from Calgary, added an empty-netter to round out the scoring.
Brittany Smrke, a 5-foot-8 sophomore goalie from Oakville, Ont., registered 25 saves for the win, improving to 5-1 in six starts.
The Martlets went 2-for-8 on the power-play, benefitting from an undisciplined Gee-Gees squad that spent 12 minutes and 27 seconds in the penalty box. Ottawa replied on one of three manpower advantages.
McGill, which improved to 8-2 in league play, remained second in the RSEQ conference, two points behind the Montreal Carabins who improved to 9-2-0 with a 2-0 shutout over visiting Concordia (4-5-2). The Martlets will stay in the nation's capital overnight as they have a Saturday afternoon rendezvous at Carleton (2-7-0). The game is slated to bewebcast at 2 p.m.
