Trojans use late flurry to topple Broncos

After seeing their early lead slip away, the SAIT Trojans found their legs again in the final five minutes, scoring three unanswered goals to knock off the Olds College Broncos 6-3 at the Town of Olds Sportsplex on Thursday.

Reauna Blight scored twice for the Trojans (2-2-0), while Pyper Alexander added a goal and an assist. Amy Goetken, Kiara Stewart and Mikayla Loewen also scored for SAIT, while Tamryn Ward and Trojans player of the game Asha Kailey each added a pair of assists.

For Olds College (0-3-2), Tessa Knisely scored the first two ACAC goals of her career to earn player of the game honours, while Maeve Van't Klooster also got on the board for the Broncos.

In goal, Ali Kieren picked up the win with 28 saves for SAIT, while Cienna Kinghorn turned aside 19 shots in a losing effort.

SAIT opened the scoring five minutes in, as Blight found some open ice from the Broncos blue line, then beat Kinghorn with a wrist shot under the bar to put the Trojans up 1-0, a lead they kept through 20 minutes despite the Broncos outshooting them 13-7 in the frame.

The Trojans then benefited from an early 5-on-3 in the second period, as Blight went end-to-end with open ice before putting a backhand shot over Kinghorn's blocker to extend SAIT's lead to two, which they extended to three after a Goetken point shot took a bounce and floated down past Kinghorn with 8:16 remaining. However, the Broncos would get a bounce of their own a couple minutes later as Knisely deflected a Keera Tiringer point shot past Kieren to cut into the advantage. Van't Klooster then made it two goals in a 1:01 span for Olds College, as she turned and fired a wrister over Kieren's shoulder through traffic to reduce SAIT's lead to 3-2 heading into the intermission.

Olds College was knocking on the door looking for the equalizer for a sizable portion of the third, and they were rewarded with 7:28 to go as Knisely poked her second of the game past Kieren at the top of the crease. However, the Trojans pulled ahead once again a few minutes later, as Stewart took a pass from Ward and knocked her own rebound past Kinghorn to give SAIT a 4-3 lead with 3:29 to go, with an empty-netter from Loewen and an insurance marker from Alexander in the final minute of play doing the damage.

The Broncos and Trojans will square off again on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. at Winsport Arena B in Calgary.