SPORTS

Panthers romp over Mount Allison to advance

By Darrell Cole, Sports Editor

The UPEI Hockey Panthers’ spe- cialty teams thrived last Sat- urday night as the Panthers scored three powerplay goals and two shorthanded goals en route to a 8-2 thumping of the Mount Allison Moun- ties in AUAA Playoff Hockey action played at the Charlot- tetown Forum. _

With the win the Pan- thers advance to the semi-— finals and a date with the Acadia Axemen who elimi- nated the Dalhousie Tigers in two straight games. In the other series the University of Moncton Blue Eagles will play Kelly Division regular— season champ, the St. Fran- cis Xavier X—Men. All series began last night in Moncton and Wolfville.

In last Saturday’s game the top-ranked Panthers opened the scor- ing 3:21 into the first period. On a powerplay Kevin Skil- liter deflected.a John Cop- ple slapshot over the shoul- der of Mountie goalie Pat MacLaughlin to give UPEI an early 1-0 lead.

A Mountie giveaway lead to UPEI’s second goal as Greg Gravel intercepted a pass in the Mountie zone and

scored at 6:27. Another pow- erplay goal gave the Pan- thers a 3—0 lead as captain Steve Fulton drilled a- low shot through a perfect screen setup by Jerry Fleming.

As if three goals wasn’t enough for one period an- other mistake by the Moun- ties lead to another UPEI goal as Greg Gravel capital- ized on an errant pass for a shorthanded goal and a 4—0 lead for the Panther after the first period which saw UPEI outshoot Mount A 14-7.

In the second period the scoring spree for the Pan- thers continued as Don Clow scored on a_ breakaway as he, like Gravel in the pre- vious period broke up a

Mountie powerplay opportu- nity with a shorthanded goal. Todd Steffen rounded out the scoring in the second pe- riod when he converted on a perfect centering pass from Brent Thompson. UPEI lead 6-0 after two periods and outshot the Mounties 30-14 in the two periods.

Scott Wasson and Reed McClung both scored early third period goals’ to spoil goalie Tony Haladuick’s shutout bid. Mount Allison looked to be pulling them- selves back into the game but Greg Gravel put that to rest as he scored on a three— way passing play with Steve Fulton and Randy Muttart. That goal gave Gravel a hat-—

trick on the night. Jeff Stef- fen rounded out the scoring for the game as he scored late in the third period. UPEI outshot the Mounties 16—7 in the period and 46-21 in the game.

Coach Vince Mulligan wasn’t to pleased with his teams penalty prob- lems which still seem to be nagging the team. Mount Allison: coach Jack Drover also wasn’t too impressed by the number of penalties called in the game. “There’s a real problem with high- sticks in this league.”, com- mented Drover. When asked who he thought was going to win the AUAA Cham- pionship Drover commented

that both UPEI and St.F.X. have strong teams and that it could boil down to who is able to stay out of the penalty box.

The Panthers are home this weekend in AUAA Semi-final action as they host the Acadia Axe- men. There is a game on Sat- urday and on Sunday. Sun- day’s game is if neccessary. Let’s have a good turnout for these games on the weekend as the Panthers really want your support. It was quite disappointing to see such a small crowd on hand for Sat- urday’s game against Mount Allison and I feel that we can do better to support the hockey Panthers.

Lady Panthers AUAA Champs Again

by Matthew Beardsley The 1987-88 Lady Pan-

thers are in a word, “per- fect”’. The Lady Pan-

thers fought off a charge by the Dalhousie Tigers in the second half to win 58-51 and take their second straight

AUAA Womens’ Basketball: They did so before.

title. a loud and boisterous crowd that filled Alumni Gym to the roof.

With the victory the Panthers have given them- selves a perfect 14-0 record in league play plus two more in the tournament for an overall record of 16-0.

The Lady Panthers now head to Lethbridge, Alberta for the CIAU championships,

which will take place this weekend at the University of Lethbridge.

The championship game was everything anyone could have hoped for. Dalhousie came out strong and was up 6-4 when UPEI went in- side to Tracy MacEachern. MacEachern called upon the shot that has become so fa- miliar to those of us who have seen her play over the past five years. That reliable left-handed hook.

The shot swished through the net and tied the game. It was the last itme Dalhousie was to have the lead.

UPEI was again forced to go to their bench as they had Friday night in their win over Acadia. MacEachern picked up her third foul with 6:57 to go in the first half. Nadine Enman came off the bench for MacEachern and hit clutch jumpers down the stretch.

The story of the first half, however, was the play of Janet Nichols and Ria Ba- hadursingh. Nichols scored a half high 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Nichols time and time again went up against the MacCormacks and came down with the ball.

Ria Bahadursingh was literally all over the floor. Numerous, times she either stole the ball or caused Dal to turn it over. She fin- ished the game with a total of seven steals.

From the 10:00 minute mark of the first half it was the great defense fo UPEI that allowed them to open up the game. When Nadine Enman hit a fall-away hook with seconds remaining she gave UPEI their largest lead of the half at 35-20.

As the second half started thel Lady Panthers found themselves with three players with three fouls each: Tracy MacEachern, Tracey Bowie, and Stephanie Smith.

Right away MacEahcern got hit with her fourth foul and was again forced to the bench. Then Tracey Bowie caught five as twice in a row she went coast-to-coast to hit jumpers from the right side. The second of which put UPEI up by 13.

Panther KBench leading the cheer of “Defence, Defence,” the KAlumni Gym crowd pushed the deciable count higher until it exploded at the 5:37 mark when Dal un- der immense pressure from the Panther Press failed to

advance the ball over half in the required time.

UPEI continued to pour it on as Bahadursingh hit a jumper from the left corner. Then took a cheap shot from Kathy MacCormack and hit the free throws to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game: 46-30.

Dal called timeout hop- ing to halt the momentum. It began to look as though the Tiger strategy was work- ing as they went on a 15-4 run. They they cut the lead to five when Mary Fayes hit from the top of the key.

The Tigers continued to fight back refusing to give up. The bench again became a factor when just Tracey Bowie fouled out and then Tracy MacEachern went out with her fifth personal foul. Much to the dismay of those in attendance who unani- mously thought it was a bad call.

The crowd sensed the game slipping away. It might have but not for a masterful coaching job by Dave Mac- Neil. After Dal closed to 5 he called timeout and as Enman

said “gave us the confidence to do it.”

Cont. on page 14

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