Women’s hockey opened the annual Queen’s Hockey Invitational Tournament last Friday on a high-note, edging the Ottawa Gee Gees 4-3 in a narrow overtime contest for their only victory of the weekend.

The Gaels took the ice against UOttawa with a clear pursuit towards a win. They dominated in the first period as Bridgid Goris scored on the powerplay with 2:42 left in the period.

Considering the matchup was just their second exhibition of the year, the Gaels’ opening to the game was relatively impressive.

“[In the first period] we were working on getting used to each other and getting our pace going,” centre Emily Gervais said of the team’s approach to the first period. The Gaels headed into the second leading 1-0 with 11 shots on target to the Gee Gees’ five. 

The Gee Gees came back after the break with their offense seemingly in a groove and tied the game up 35 seconds into the period.

In the second period, Queen’s fought back offensively and pushed the puck down the ice with pace to regain control of the game. Although the team showed promise — forward Jessica Wakefield had an outstanding shot rebound off the crossbar — they didn’t score until late in the period.

With less than five minutes left in the period, Gaels forward Katrina Manoukarakis scored a powerplay goal from the top of the circle, sliding into the far right corner of the net. But within the following two minutes, the Gee Gees tied the game at 2-2 off a short-handed goal.

The third period continued the back and forth affairs. After UOttawa scored early in the period to take a 3-2 lead, Queen’s forward Megan Farrell tied the game on the powerplay just five minutes later.

The end of regulation called for three-on-three overtime — and it would be all the Gaels needed.

Winger Addi Halladay shot the puck off a faceoff just below the crossbar, squeezing it home past the Gee Gees goalie to win the game 4-3.

Gervais said the team didn’t have lofty expectations of themselves coming into the game, but were nonetheless happy with the result.

“We improved steadily throughout and had our best play towards the end of the game,” the fourth-year said. “We had strong defensive plays as well as a successful powerplay.”

The Gaels played their second game of the Queen’s Invitational on Saturday against McGill, losing 5-3. Their next exhibition game will be at Colgate University in Hamilton on October 1.

The team begins their season on the road at UOIT on October 14.