MONTREAL - Gabrielle Davidson of Pte. Claire, Que., scored twice, including the game-winner, as the defending national champion McGill women's hockey team rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Lac St. Louis Tigers, a boys midget espoir team, 4-2, in their preseason opener at McConnell Arena, Friday.

It avenged a 6-0 loss to the Tigers last fall and marked the third time in seven attempts that the Martlets had knocked off a boys team.

BOXSCORE

The Tigers threatened to produce another blow-out after jumping into an early first-period 2-0 lead on goals by Matthew Pietroniro (4:07) and defenceman Michael Fiorini, at 9:41 on the power-play.

But Leslie Oles of Beaconsfield, Que., sparked the McGill comeback just 52 seconds later, cutting the gap to 2-1 after the opening frame. Davidson evened the count on a power-play at 2:48 of the middle period and struck again just 21 seconds later with the go-ahead marker.

Katia Clement-Heydra, who was named as CIS player-of-the-year last season, added an insurance marker with an empty-netter in the final minute. The native of St. Bruno de Montarville, Que., finished with three points, collecting assists on both of Davidson's goals.

The Tigers had a 37-20 advantage in shots but were stymied by goaltender Taylor Hough of Toronto, who merited the victory in relief of starter Brittany Smrke, who hails from Oakville, Ont. Hough kicked aside all 24 shots faced over the final two stanzas. Smrke conceded two goals on 13 shots in the opening period.

Max Montpetit took the loss for Lac St. Louis, allowing three goals on 19 shots.

The McGill women went 1-for-3 on the power-play and stymied the much bigger boys squad on seven of their eight man-advantage situations, including four chances in the final period.

McGill (1-0) will travel to Kingston, Ont., next week for the Queen's Invitational Tournament, where they will cross paths with the Montreal Carabins for the first time since defeating their rivals in the CIS gold medal game last spring. The Martlets will open the tourney against Montreal (Spet. 19), before taking on Queen's (Sept. 20) and Laurier (Sept. 21).

MARTLET MURMURS: Mélodie Daoust, who helped Canada win gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, is not expected to start her junior season at McGill until the next semester. The first hockey player to capture CIS rookie-of-the-year honours and player-of-the-year honours in back-to-back seasons, she is recovering from surgery after suffered a torn ACL during her summer training... PREVIOUSLY AGAINST BOYS: In 2012-13, the Martlets edged the Tigers 4-3 in an overtime shootout and then suffered a 5-2 setback to the Lac St. Louis Royals.. The McGill women previously lost to boys teams by 4-2 and 9-5 scores in exhibition games played during the 2009-10 season, preceded by a 6-3 victory on Jan 21, 2009 and a 3-3 tie in 2007.

SCORING SUMMARY
Lac St. Louis Tigers 2 at McGill 4
Friday, September 12, 2014 (McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Lac St. Louis 2-0-0 -- 2
McGill 1-2-1 -- 4

1st Period-
1, Lac St. Louis, Matthew Pietroniro 1 (Alex Bourhas), 4:07.
2, Lac St. Louis, Michael Fiorini 1 (Nicolas Cardone), 9:41 (PP).
3, McGill, Leslie Oles 1 (unassisted), 10:33.

Penalties-Constantinou McG (hooking), 8:13; Sutter McG (tripping), 8:30; Pietroniro LSL (hooking), 14:18.

2nd Period-
4, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 1 (Katia Clement-Heydra, Kelsie Moffatt), 2:48 (PP).
5, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 2 (Katia Clement-Heydra), 3:09.

Penalties-Pietroniro LSL (tripping), 2:28; Daigneault McG (delay of game), 10:39; McDonell McG (hooking), 13:36; Kaklamanos LSL (tripping), 13:52.

3rd Period-
6, McGill, Katia Clement-Heydra 1 (unassisted), 19:49 (EN).

Penalties-Serpico McG (hooking), 4:57; Psihogios McG (hooking), 9:42; Moffatt McG (slashing), 12:23; Oles McG (hooking), 16:08.

Shots on Goal-
Lac St. Louis 13-14-10 -- 37.
McGill 10-8-2 -- 20.

Power Play Opportunities-
Lac St. Louis 1 / 8;
McGill 1 / 3.

Goalies-
Lac St. Louis,
Max Montpetit (L, 0-1-0, 19 shots-16 saves; 60:00).

McGill,
Brittany Smrke (Start, ND, 13 shots-11 saves; 20:00);
Taylor Hough (W, 1-0-0,  24 shots-24 saves; 40:00).

Attendance: 100
Start: 8:00 PM
End: 10:00 PM
Length: 2:00

Referee- (not available).
Linesmen- (not available).

THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 19 Katia Clement-Heydra
2. MCG - 15 Gabrielle Davidson
3. MCG - 32 Taylor Hough