Valiant Effort Comes Up Short

Rookie Goaltender Purchase’s 40 Saves Not Enough

SportsDavid S. Landsman — Published January 12, 2015 | Updated January 12, 2015 at 8:05pm

It’s even harder when your first game back is against the top team in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the Université de Montréal Carabins. Despite a strong goaltending performance by rookie goaltender Katherine Purchase, the Stingers still lost 2-0.

“I think we haven’t quite gotten our legs back since we got back from Christmas break, and couldn’t find much of a rhythm in yesterday’s game,” said Purchase. “We definitely showed improvement in the third period.”

“[Katherine] Purchase was fantastic in front of the net,” said forward Marie-Pier Cloutier. “Definitely the first star of the game. We may have lost 2-0 but it was a tight game, and we know we’re not far from being able to beat them [the Carabins].”

While the Stingers did have their annual Theresa Humes tournament last week, a week’s worth of practice couldn’t prepare them for this game, as Con U was outshot 42-19.

The Carabins got their first goal as a minor penalty to forward Erica Porter was winding down. Carabins forward Lore Baudrit fed a shot to defender Elizabeth Mantha who made no mistake for her first goal of the season.

The Stingers trailed by the one goal after two periods, with great chances on either side, but Montreal racking up the shots, up by a commanding 34-13.

The final period was difficult for the Stingers to get going, taking three straight minor penalties. The Carabins were able to extend their lead after scoring their second tally on the advantage when forward Audrey Gariepy found the back of the net.

Gariepy, who originally started her CIS career with Concordia, got her fourth of the season.

The Carabins got good goaltending from Marie-Pier Chabot, who made 19 saves for her second shutout against Concordia this season.

Despite the loss, they still sit third in the Réseau du Sport Étudiants au Québec conference, with four points clear of next Ottawa and six up on Carleton.

“Taking six penalties in the game didn’t help us really play our five-on-five gameplan,” said Cloutier. “It was hard to get an offensive momentum and work within our lines.”

Next Friday, the girls travel across town to face off against their bitter rivals, the McGill Martlets. The last time these two faced off at McConnell Arena back on November 7, all it took was an Audrey Morand powerplay snipe and stellar defending from everyone including goaltender Briar Bache to end a 57-game losing streak, winning 1-0.

“I think the game against McGill next week will get us back into shape for the second half of the season,” said Purchase. “We have a lot of potential and we know we can keep up with any team in the country so we’re a confident group. We’re looking to build on the success we had in the first half and pull out a couple more big wins before playoffs.”