MONTREAL – Sophie Lajeunesse of Calgary, Alta., made 39 saves as McGill upset the No. 10-ranked Montreal Carabins 3-2 in a women's hockey thriller at McConnell Arena, Thursday.

It was the second consecutive win for McGill, which improved to 2-12-1, while second-place Montreal dropped to 9-3-3. The Martlets improved to 59-32 lifetime in 91 games overall against the Carabins, including an 11-3 run over the last 14 meetings.

Quynn Campbell, a management junior from Toronto, snapped a 2-2 saw-off with the winning tally and her fourth goal of the season, at 18:29 of the second period. She intercepted a pass in her own zone while killing a penalty and worked a nifty 2-on-1, give-and-go with Makenzie McCallum of Morden, Man. That goal was tallied two seconds after the McGill penalty expired.

From that point forward, all eyes were on Lajeunesse, the 5-foot-8 goalie between the pipes for McGill. The civil  engineering sophomore stopped all 13 shots faced in the final stanza as the Carabins finished a 41-19 edge in shots. Over her last two games, the 19-year-old daughter of two former McGill athletes has now racked up 74 saves for a stingy .974 save percentage and a 1.00 goal-against average.

"We came out strong in the first period and had a solid overall effort from everyone," said Alyssa Cecere, in her second season as head coach at McGill. "Sophie played very well in goal again and kept us in the game on numerous occasions."

McGill took an early 2-0 lead on goals by McCallum at 9:59 and Sarah-Maude Lavoie of Victoriaville, Que., on a power-play at 14:29.

McCallum, an anatomical science senior, scored her fourth goal of the season on a long, unassisted breakaway. She outskated Carabins defender Breanne Dondo, who had misplayed a pass sent to her at the point from deep in the McGill zone.

"Makenzie had a really solid game and stood out tonight with a great shot on the first goal and a really nice pass to Campbell on the last goal," Cecere said. "She plays fast, within our structure and keeps it pretty simple. She's put in a lot of work on her game over the last few years and it has paid off."

Lavoie's goal was her second in as many contests after the 5-foot-10 freshman missed 11 of 13 league games in the first semester with an injury.

The Carabins stormed back in the middle frame to tie the score at 2-2 with Emily-Renee Paquin connecting at 5:47 and Amelie Poire-Lehoux finding the net on a power-play at 14:29.

McGill and Montreal each went 1-for-3 with the man-advantage.

Carabins netminder Rosalie Gilbert made 16 saves and took the loss.

Both teams were missing key personnel who were playing for Canada at the FISU World University Games in upstate New York. McGill was without the services of sophomore defenceman Elizabeth Mura,  who had one assist in Canada's tourney-opening 4-0 victory over Slovakia on Wednesday. She played 24 shifts for a total of 16 minutes, 40 seconds, which ranked fourth in ice time played among the Team Canada blueliners.

Representing the Carabins at the Games was top-scoring forward Audrey-Anne Veillette, along with defenders Annabel Faubert and Kelly-Ann Nadeau.

McGill returns to action on Saturday (Jan. 14) against division-leading and No. 2 ranked Concordia (11-3-0) in a rare 5:30 p.m. start at the Ed Meagher Arena. Montreal, which sits one point behind the Stingers, will host third-place Ottawa (9-4-1) on Jan. 15 at 2 p.m.

FACES IN THE CROWD: Among those on hand for this contest was Alessandra Lind-Kenny, a native of Calgary who skated for the Martlets from 2007 to 2011, on teams that went to the national championship game each season, and coming away with three gold medals and one silver.


SCORING SUMMARY

U SPORTS HOCKEY STANDINGS

MARTLETS TEAM STATS

MARTLETS REG. SEASON SCORING LEADERS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)