MONTREAL --
Catherine Dubois scored twice as the No.1 ranked Montreal Carabins handed fourth-ranked McGill a 3-1 setback in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Thursday night.
Montreal, which improved to 7-2, now sits atop the RSEQ standing, two points ahead of McGill (6-2), with a game in hand. The Martlets, who have won one of three meetings with the Carabins this season, are 47-25 in 72 lifetime confrontations.
"The first half of the first period, we were just really on our heels and I give credit to Montreal, they really pressed us, kept us in our own end," said McGill bench boss
Peter Smith, who was bidding to become only the third women's hockey coach in Canadian university history to reach the 500-win plateau. "They are a dangerous team. We only gave them a couple of opportunities and they took advantage of those."
McGill, which outshot Montreal 40-33, went 0-for-2 on the power-play and dropped to 17.4 per cent in that department on the season. The Carabins clicked on one of their three PP chances and continue to lead the league with a lofty PP success rate of 29.2 per cent.
"That kind of game, is encouraging for us, there is still a couple things we gotta get better at and we will," vowed Smith. "We made some poor decisions coming out of our own end -- I think we could have been better."
Dubois opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:29 of the first period and made it 3-1 at 12:05 of the final period. Teammate
Jessica Cormier was credited with the game-winner when she gave UdeM a 2-0 lead at 5:33 of the second period.
But McGill freshman
Valerie Audet from St. Bruno de Montarville, Que., replied just 24 seconds later, assisted by teammate
Marika Labrecque of Lac Etchemin, Que. It was the fourth marker of the season for Audet, a 5-foot-4 forward, who is now tied for the team lead in that department with junior
Lea Dumais and sophomore
Kellyane Lecours.
Rookie goaltender
Aube Racine registered 39 saves for the victory, improving her record to 5-0.
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., made 30 saves in a losing cause for McGill as her record fell to 6-2. Despite the loss, Deguire continues to lead the league in wins, goals-against average (1.11), save percentage (.959) and shutouts (3).
The Carabins will play next on Nov. 24 when they host third-place Carleton (1-5-0).
Coach Smith, who owns a
499-209-33 record overall, will get another shot for his 500th win on Sunday, Nov. 25, when the Martlets (6-2-0) host Ottawa (2-6-0) at McConnell Arena, with a 3 p.m. puck drop.
LINK TO BOXSCORE
2018-19 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
| 1 |
Montreal |
9 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
14 |
0.778 |
24 |
12 |
4-0-0 |
7-2-0 |
50 |
| 2 |
McGill |
8 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
12 |
0.750 |
23 |
9 |
0-1-0 |
6-2-0 |
42 |
| 3 |
Concordia |
8 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
0.625 |
21 |
16 |
3-0-2 |
4-2-2 |
42 |
| 4 |
Ottawa |
8 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
4 |
0.250 |
12 |
28 |
0-2-0 |
2-6-0 |
78 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
7 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
0.214 |
10 |
25 |
1-0-1 |
1-5-1 |
82 |
