Tigers defeat Panthers, 2-1

(Halifax, NS) – On the Dalhousie Tigers senior day game, they hosted the UPEI Panthers in Sunday afternoon action. After going down a goal early, the Tigers came back with two second half goals to secure a 2-1 win.  

The Tigers had two big opportunities in the first ten minutes, the first coming from a great cross by Riley Donovan (Toronto, ON) that found Sofia Nicolls (Vancouver, BC) in the far side of the box, but her shot was rushed and bounced straight into the arms of keeper Amanda Stanyer (Port Coquitlan, BC).  

The second chance came from a long strike from Jensen Hudder (White's Lake, NS) that Stanyer got a hand on, but tipped it into the crossbar, and just stayed out of the goal.  

The Panthers had their best chance of the half in the dying minutes off a hard strike from Lauren Clark (Charlottetown, PEI) that sailed high towards the bar, but Kate Fines (Halifax, NS) was able to get just enough of a tip on it to send the ball high.  

The teams went into the break still scoreless.  

The Panthers came out hard to start the second half, pressuring hard and putting everything they could towards the goal.  

It paid off for them just five minutes into the half on a long ball that was mishandled by the Tigers back line and Carly Connell (Charlottetown, PEI) broke took a quick shot that snuck past Fines who was charging out, and slowly rolled into the net to open up the scoring for the Panthers.  

The Tigers countered quickly after that goal, with Riley Donovan getting two great strikes toward the goal but Stanyer was able to get her hands on both chances.   

The Tigers were finally able to beat Stanyer midway through the half, when a fantastic cross from Haley Birrell (Hammonds Plains, NS) picked out Sofia Nicolls in the box, who redirected in to even it up at 1-1.  

After a stretch of quiet play from both sides, the Tigers opened up a lead from a perfectly placed corner kick to the top of the box for Olivia MacIntyre (Sydney, NS) to redirect the header in to make it 2-1.  

The Tigers were content to keep possession and use up the clock in the final minutes after securing the lead, and as the final whistle blew, they came away with the 2-1 win.  

The Subway Player of the Game for the Tigers was Haley Birrell. 

The Tigers will play their final regular season game next Saturday when they travel to Moncton. The Panthers will wrap up their season on Friday when they host Saint Mary's for their final home game.