OTTAWA --
Julie Levesque scored the game-winner as Ottawa upset No.5 McGill 3-2 in RSEQ women's hockey, Sunday, at Minto Sports Complex.
It was the third straight setback for the winless Martlets since their season opener last week and the team is struggling on offence with a league-low four goals. That said, the whole RSEQ is an offensively-challenged conference this season, with nine games played to date and every winning team has either scored two or three goals.
The Gee-Gees, who were outshot 44-30, improved their lifetime record to 18-94-7 in 119 meetings with the Martlets.
"We had a lot of scoring chances in the first two periods and we just didn't get the puck in the back of the net," said McGill bench boss
Peter Smith, who was coaching his 700th career contest with the Martlets as his stellar record slipped to 477-191-32 overall. "We're playing games that are tight and we don't have room for any kind of error whatsoever. We took a poor penalty in the third period and gave them a 5-on-3, then had a bit of a breakdown. We've done some real good things, we've just got to do them more consistently."
Levesque's winning tally came with just 3:07 left in the game.
"It's hard, you coach a team like this and they work real hard -- I thought we deserved a better fate," Smith offered. "We played well on Friday (a 2-1 loss to Montreal) and we played real well today. We could've had a better fate, but we didn't, so we've just got to work harder and get better. And we will."
Alexe Drouin opened the scoring for Ottawa at 8:56 of the first period. Minutes later,
Olivia Atkinson of Oakville, Ont., responded for McGill at 12:23 to even things up at 1-1, assisted by rookie defenceman
Samantha McCluskey of Etobicoke, Ont., who earned her first collegiate point on the play.
Marika Lebrecque, a freshman forward from Lac Etchemin, Que., netted the lone goal of the middle frame to put the Martlets ahead, but a 5-on-3 power-play goal by
Mélodie Bouchard at 9:48 of the third knotted the score at 2-2, setting the stage for a Gee-Gees comeback.
Sophomore netminder
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., turned away 27 pucks through 59:03 in a losing cause as her record dropped to 0-3. Ottawa goalie
Maude Levesque-Ryan made 42 saves to earn the win and improve to 2-0.
McGill was 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Gee-Gees went 1-for-3.
"We had an opportunity on the power play but we also made some real nice plays that didn't materialize into a shot on goal," noted Smith. "We've got to keep it basic and keep it simple. On a couple of power plays we got away from that."
The Martlets (0-3-0) will play their annual exhibition match against the Lac St. Louis Tigers, a boys midget espoir team, on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena. They resume league play at Carleton (2-2-0) on Nov. 10, while Ottawa (2-0-1) hosts Montreal (2-0-2) on Nov. 12.
LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE
| 2017 RSEQ Womwn's Hockey Standings • Classement de la saison régulière du RSEQ |
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