On Saturday at the PRC, the St. Marys U-14 Snipers hosted the Stingers from Mitchell in WRRL action.
Mitchell came into the game undefeated and in sole possession of second place. Jim Burlingham’s Snipers entered the game tied for fourth, but it was the Snipers who took the sting out of the Stingers, posting a well-deserved 5–1 win.
Snipers opened the scoring on just their second shot of the game as birthday girl, Caitlynn Jantzi, set up Olivia Nugent, who went ‘five-hole’ giving St. Marys a 1–0 lead three minutes into the game. Play was evenly matched for most of the first half as Arielle Barber was tested often in net but turned away 14 shots.
Jenna Hutton added Snipers’ second goal of the half as she stole the ring from a Mitchell defender and found the back of the net with seven minutes to go in the half. That would be all the scoring in the opening 15 minutes and St. Marys took a 2–0 advantage into the intermission break.
In the second half, just like they did in the first, Snipers scored on their second shot of the half as Jillian Sterkenburg picked up the ring in the neutral zone and hit Sarah Lynch breaking down the wing who then fired a shot that the Mitchell goalie could not control, making it 3–0.
Mitchell kept the pressure on though, unleashing a flurry of shots on Barber before finally beating her to make a 3–1 game with still 11 minutes remaining. Stingers continued to dominate play and it looked like they had pulled to within one, but a goal was disallowed as it was kicked into the net.
The visitors had another opportunity to get back in it, as Snipers went on the penalty kill. Despite being down a player, Jessica Burlingham took on two Mitchell forwards and stole the ring before passing to Lynch who went backhand, top corner, for her second of the contest and propelling St. Marys to a 4–1 lead. Nugent, also with her second of the afternoon, completed the scoring at 5–1 on a great breakout tic-tac-toe from Kaitlyn Kittmer and Sterkenburg.
Despite being out-shot 21–7 in the second half, and 35–20 for the game, Barber was outstanding in net–picking up her third win of the ringette season with a 34-save performance.
Upcoming: The U-14 Snipers travel to St. Thomas on Nov. 10, before returning home to the PRC on Nov. 24 to take on Forest.
