MONTREAL – Freshman Sarah-Maude Lavoie tallied twice and rookie goaltender Jade Rivard-Coulombe posted a shutout in her first career start as McGill blanked the St. Thomas University Tommies 4-0 in preseason women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
 
It was the Martlets third consecutive lifetime win over STU since losing the first-ever meeting 2-1 in a quarter-final at the 2016 national championship tournament in Calgary.
 
STU held a slight 30-29 edge in shots but the Martlets won each period, leading 1-0 after the first, 2-0 after two and taking the final stanza 2-0. The game featured 18 minutes in penalties, including 12 to the winning team. McGill excelled on special teams, going 2-for-3 on the power-play and erasing all six shorthanded situations.
 
Lavoie, a 5-foot-10 sophomore from Victoriaville, Que., scored a power-play goal to put McGill ahead 2-0 at 6:13 of the second period and added the game's final marker at 15:31 of the third.
 
Rivard-Coulomb, a 20-year-old from Chateauguay, Que., made 30 saves to register the whitewash in what was her first career start between the pipes for McGill. The 5-foot-10 netminder is a kindergarten and elementary education freshman.
 
Junior Cassidy Stasiuk, a defensive forward from Kamloops, B.C., was credited with the winning tally when she opened the scoring at the 5:47 mark after the opening faceoff. It was her third career marker in 58 games overall for the pharmacology senior.
 
Rounding out the scoring was junior defenceman Olivia Pridham, an industrial and labour relations junior from Stouffville, Ont., who put the Martlets ahead 3-0 with her sixth career marker, a power-play goal at 11:37 of the third period.
 
It was a long, winless road trip for St. Thomas (1-2), which dropped a 3-1 decision to the Montreal Carabins on Friday. The Tommies will head back to Fredericton and prepare for their next preseason game, against Bishop's on Oct. 30.

McGill (1-1) continues its exhibition schedule with five consecutive games against NCAA opponents. The Martlets  will host the Boston University Terriers on Sept. 30 in a 3 p.m. start at McConnell Arena. Then they will head across the border to play at Vermont (Oct. 1), Harvard (Oct. 6), Yale (Oct. 7) and Brown (Oct. 8) before the RSEQ regular season begins at Concordia on Oct. 12.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Sports Info Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
(514) 983-7012