NAPANEE, Ont. (March 17, 2017) -- The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 shootout loss to the Concordia Stingers in their quarter-final game at the 2017 U SPORTS Championship at Napanee's Strathcona Paper Centre on Friday afternoon.
 
The Gryphons, who earned the No.2 seed at the championships after winning back-to-back OUA titles last weekend battled hard against a Stingers team that entered ranked No. 7 and were the RSEQ finalists this season.
 
 CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http://en.usports.ca/championships/wice/index
 
The Stingers now advance to the semifinal round where they will meet the No.6 Alberta Pandas tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. ET live on OUA.TV. For Guelph, they suffer a shootout loss in the national championship for the second straight year after losing to UBC in 2016 in the semifinal round. The Gryphons will take on the No.3 Saint Mary's Huskies on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. ET on OUA.TV in the second Consolation semifinal.

"It's frustrating to lose a game of this magnitude in a shootout," said Guelph head coach Rachel Flanagan. "We knew how good and disciplined they are in their systems and their coaching staff has done a good job with them. We also knew we were going to come up against a good goalie but unfortunately we took the second period off it felt like." 

We've been here before - last year we lost in a shootout in the second round. We talked to our team, it was a pretty gutsy way to come back after being down 3-1 going into the third period."

The Stingers scored all regulation goals in the second period. The Gryphons saw seven different players register a point in the game, with Stephanie Gava picking up the tying goal late in the third period.
 

WHKY | MUST SEE
The @guelph_gryphons score twice in the 3rd to tie the game 3-3 with @The_Stingers pic.twitter.com/NPpK23Jcar

— U SPORTS Hockey (@USPORTS_Hockey) March 17, 2017

The Gryphons came up against a very hot Concordia goalie in Katherine Purchase who stopped 19-of-22 shots faced and shut the door on two Guelph's shootout attempts. Gryphon All-Canadian Valerie Lamenta played outstanding as well, and turned aside 35 shots in 70 minutes.

Guelph opened the scoring at 14:12 in the first period. Kaitlin Lowy scored for the Gryphons, after driving hard to the net, and patiently potting a rebound. 
 

VID HIGHLIGHT ALERT - Lowy opens the scoring for Gryphons and lead 1-0 late in the first over @The_Stingers #USPORTSWHKY17 pic.twitter.com/RlxuHcRSqg

— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) March 17, 2017

In the second period, Concordia responded, scoring three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead. The third tally came just 2:40 after Brigitte Laganiere gave the Stingers their first lead of the game. Sophie Gagnon finished off a three-on-two break, deflecting in her own rebound. 

In the third period, Guelph fought back to tie the game 3-3. Nearing the halfway mark in the period, Katherine Bailey scored for Gryphons, after crashing the net and chipping in a rebound. In the dying minutes of the third, it was Gava who tied the game, scoring with a quick snap-shot from the slot forcing overtime.

Both teams pushed hard in the 10-minute overtime session but it solved nothing and the game headed to a shootout. In the shootout, after the Gryphons pulled even but needed a Lamenta save to continue on, Claudia Dubois scored the game-winner with a quick shot from the slot.

Up next the Gryphons will now face the AUS champion and No. 3 seeded St. Mary's Huskies who were upset in their quarter-final game on Thursday by Alberta. These two teams are no strangers to the national championships, meeting last year in the bronze medal game, where SMU came out on top.
 
"There is a little more on the line, we may not be playing for a medal now but we get a rematch against St. Mary's from last year so there will be a little bit of pride on the line," commented Flanagan.

The Gryphons will face the Huskies on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. ET on OUA.TV in the second Consolation semifinal.
 

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SCORING SUMMARY

 
Official Boxscore: http://en.usports.ca/championships/wice/2017/championship
 
FIRST PERIOD
1. GUE Kaitlin Lowy (1) (Mallory Young), 14:12

PENALTIES:
 No Penalties
 
SECOND PERIOD
1. CON  Carol-Anne Gagne (1) ( Valerie Wade), 11:07
2. CON Brigitte Laganiere (1) (Tracy-Ann Lavigne), 13:56 PP
3. CON Sophie Gagnon (1) (Tracy-Ann Lavigne, Claudia Dubois), 16:36

PENALTIES:
Bernier (CON) Tripping, 1:33;
St. James (GUE) Tripping, 7:10;
Smyth (GUE) Hooking, 13:05.
 
THIRD PERIOD
2. GUE Katherine Bailey (1) (Claire Merrick), 9:16
3. GUE Stephanie Gava (1) (Sydney Davidson, Brittany St James), 13:15
 
PENALTIES:
Allard (CON) Tripping, 0:52.

OT PERIOD
No scoring
PENALTIES: No Penalties.

SHOOTOUT:
GUE - Sydney Davison - Missed 
CON - Marie-Pascale Bernier - Missed
GUE - Claire Merrick - Missed
CON - Keriann Schofield - Goal
GUE - Kaitlin Lowy - Goal
CON - Claudia Dubois - Goal
 
GOALS (by period)
GUE 1-0-2-0: 3
CON 0-3-0-1: 4
 
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
GUE 9-4-6-3: 22
CON12-18-3-5-1: 39
 
POWER PLAY:
GUE 0-2
CON 1-2
 
GOALTENDERS
GUE - Valerie Lamenta (L, 0-1, 38 shots, 35 saves, 3 GA, 70:00)
CON - Katherine Purchase (W, 1-0, 22 shots, 19 saves, 3 GA, 70:00)
 
PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
GUE: Valerie Lamenta
CON: Claudia Dubois

START: 2:57
END: 5:35
LENGTH: 2:38
 

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SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times ET)
 
Thursday, March 16
3:00 p.m. Quarter-final 1: No.4 McGill 3, No.5 StFX 1
7:00 p.m. Quarter-final 2: No.1 UBC 2, No.8 Queen's 1
 
Friday, March 17
11:00 a.m. Quarter-final 3: No.3 Saint Mary's 1, No.6 Alberta 2 
3:00 p.m. Quarter-final 4: No. 2 Guelph 3 vs. No. 7 Concordia 4 (SO)
7:00 p.m. Consolation 1: No. 5 StFX vs. No.8 Queen's (OUA.TV)
 
Saturday, March 18
11:00 a.m. Consolation 2: No.3 Saint Mary's vs. No.2 Guelph  (OUA.TV)
3:00 p.m. Semifinal 1: No. 4 McGill vs. No.1 UBC (OUA.TV)
7:00 p.m. Semifinal 2: No.6 Alberta vs. No.7 Concordia (OUA.TV)
 
Sunday, March 19
11:00 a.m. 5th-place game (OUA.TV)
3:00 a.m. Bronze (OUA.TV)
7:00 p.m. Final (OUA.TV)