OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT women's hockey team kicked off their 2017-18 season Saturday afternoon as they hosted the Queen's Gaels, but in a closely matched game, the Ridgebacks fell 2-1 to the Gaels.
As the first period was about to come to a close, Kaylie Dennis found the back of the net for Queen's to open the scoring.
"I thought we played a good full 60 minutes, we competed from the first puck drop until the end," said Ridgebacks head coach
Justin Caruana. "When we were down by one we stuck together and continued to play hard."
Coming out strong in the second period,
Chelsea Ball (Maple, Ont.) was able to tie the game up with a slapshot from the point.
The Gaels answered midway through the third period when forward Caroline DeBruin scored on a power play to put them ahead by one.
In an attempt to comeback, the Ridgebacks pulled their goalie in the last few minutes of the game and applied pressure in the offensive zone. Unfortunately, they had no success and Gaels goaltender, Stephanie Pascal, was able to stonewall the Ridgebacks, ending the game with a total of 21 saves.
Despite the loss, Ridgebacks goaltender
Briar Hughes (Thornton, Ont.) played an excellent game, stopping a total of 26 shots.
"Briar came into the game with confidence in herself and the team, and when you do that as a goalie it builds throughout the whole team," said Caruana.
Now the Ridgebacks will have a week to prepare before they hit the road for their next game against Waterloo on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2:30 p.m.
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 0-7-0
Conference Record: 0-1-0
Next Game: Saturday, Oct. 21 @ Waterloo Warriors (2:30 PM)
