BOX SCORE EDMONTON – The conference's best defence continued with another strong performance, the No.10 University of Alberta Pandas holding the Calgary Dinos to only nine shots en route to a 1-0 victory, Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.
Rookie forward Deanna Morin scored the lone goal in the game while sophomore netminder Lindsey Post picked up her third-straight shutout, extending her personal streak to 214:55. As a team, the Pandas have only allowed 15 goals in 13 games this season, or an average of 1.15.
Freshman goaltender Hayley Dowling made 26 saves in a loss that drops her to 3-1 on the season.
Alberta tallied early in the provincial match-up, third-year forward Alison Campbell finding linemate Gillian Altheim in the Calgary slot, the fellow third-year shooting a wrister along the ice that hit Dowling's pad before Morin backhanded the rebound into the net only 2:55 into the game for her third on the year.
The offensive pressure continued throughout the opening frame, the Pandas outshooting the Dinos 10-2 in the first 20 minutes and having almost a full two minutes on a five-on-three late in the period, but Dowling held her ground against the onslaught.
The Calgary native did more of the same in the middle frame, Alberta putting 13 more pucks at the Medicine student, her best save coming off a clear Altheim breakaway near the end of the second, the former Red Deer College Queen stoned on her point-blank shot to keep her scoreless on the season.
As the home team fell back to a defence-first strategy in the third, the Dinos had a few chances to apply pressure in the Pandas' zone but for the second-straight game, Canada West's top defence held the opposition to less than 10 shots on goal, keeping Calgary to the perimeter and blocking shots, Post handling any shots that got through by standing tall in the Alberta net.
Hailing from Chelsea, Québec, the 'keeper improved her conference-best goals against average to 0.69 on the season and climbed to the top of the list in save percentage with .952.
The Pandas finished 0-5 on the man-advantage while the Dinos went 0-3.
Alberta, now 8-3-2, and 5-7-1 Calgary continue their home-and-home series with game two going at 6:00 p.m. MT at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary on Saturday.
