WATERLOO, Ont (February 26, 2014) -
Jessica Wakefield (Lucan, Ont.) scored at 8:30 into overtime on the powerplay to give the No.8 Gaels a 2-1 win on the road and a 1-0 series advantage in their best-of-three with No.4 Laurier Wednesday night.
The series will now shift to Kingston where Queen's will look to secure the OUA title and CIS Championship berth on home ice at the Memorial Centre Friday afternnoon at 3pm. Tickets are available at
www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets.
The Gaels outshot Laurier in the first period by a nine to five margin thanks in part to a pair of powerplay opportunities. Laurier starting goaltender Amanda Smith was up to the task though keeping the game scoreless after 20 minutes of play in Waterloo.
The second saw the two teams continue to lock down defensively and keep most of the shots on goal to the outside. Gaels netminder
Mel Dodd-Moher (Stittsville, Ont.) had most of the work in the period stopping seven shots while Smith added four more saves for the Golden Hawks.
Queen's finally broke through in the third period as
Taryn Pilon (Peterborough, Ont.) scored her second goal of the playoffs at 11:30 to give the Gaels a 1-0 lead in a tight defensive game.
Morgan McHaffie (Guelph, Ont.) and
Micaela Smith (Cobourg, Ont.) added the assists on the goal. The Golden Hawks would not give in late in the game. With their backs against the wall at home and the goaltender pulled Laurier forced the puck in front of the Gaels net and with 5.9 seconds left Blair Connelly beat Dodd-Moher to even the game at 1-1.
The game headed to overtime and the two teams transitioned back into their defensive play. Queen's caught a break however as Dollee Meigs got called for a tripping penalty giving Queen's a powerplay chance.
A minute and a half into the powerplay
Alisha Sealey (Elora, Ont.) fired a point shot on net. The puck bounced out to Wakefield at the side of the goal and she made no mistake as she buried her third goal of the playoffs to give the Gaels the win.
Dodd-Moher was sharp again for the Gaels stopping 22 of 23 shots faced for the win.
Queen's now returns home on Friday for game two as they look to win their second straight OUA title and third in four years.
