Women’s Hockey: “Everything is Earned”

Stingers Defeat Number One Ranked Carabins 1-0

Concordia was able to sneak away a 1-0 victory against the Montreal Carabins last Friday at the Ed Meagher Arena. Archive Shaun Michaud

Playing the best women’s hockey team in the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec was never going to be an easy task for the Stingers, but Concordia was able to sneak away a 1-0 victory against the Montreal Carabins last Friday at the Ed Meagher Arena.

“The motto for our team this season from [head coach] Les Lawton was: everything is earned,” Stingers interim head coach Julie Chu said, following the victory against the nation’s top ranked team. “Today, we made sure that was going to be the case, one shift at a time.”

“I’m really proud of the team, we really showed up to the two games we played against [Montreal],” Stingers goaltender Katherine Purchase said. “It’s really great to see us compete with the top team. It means we can compete with anyone.”

Stingers forward Keriann Schofield scored in the first period to give the Stingers an early 1-0 lead, and it would prove to be all they needed.

“I didn’t even look at the net, I just threw it on there,” Schofield said when asked about her goal.

Although the Carabins fought hard in the second and third period, Concordia held on to the lead and secured the victory. Even after the Carabins pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in the final moments of the game, Montreal couldn’t tie the game.

It was easy to see who the stars were on the ice, as both goaltenders played a good game. Carabins goalie Marie-Pier Chabot allowed one goal out of 21 shots, but Purchase was able to shutout the opposing team, not without the help of her crossbar late in the game.

“[Katherine] was so solid and steady that she helped calm down anything that could have been a little bit chaotic in the defensive zone,” said Chu. “When you have a goaltender like that, who’s able to make big saves when we need to, but at the same time can make the routine saves or big saves look easy, it settles everyone down [and] gives them a lot of confidence to play in front of her.”

Concordia’s record now improves to 3-2-1 this season, and will play their next game versus McGill on Nov. 20.