by Duncan Forbes
It was a season of change for the Tigers, as the team featured a much different core from the previous year. Despite this, expectations remained high for the young Tigers squad.
In their first game of the season, the Tigers hosted the Mount Allison Mounties. Despite basically nearly doubling the Mounties in shots and dominating possession, the Tigers allowed three early goals and lost 3-2.
After playing to a scoreless draw the next day against the Acadia Axewomen, the Tigers got their first win of the season when they beat the Saint Mary’s Huskies 1-0 on their home turf.
The Tigers ended their September with a 3-3-1 record as they found themselves in the middle of the pack in the AUS.
The Tigers were off to New Brunswick for a two-game road trip against Moncton and UNB, and they delivered a performance that head coach Jack Hutchinson says defined their season.
Michelle Yates had a hat-trick, Victoria Parkinson had two and Elise Bilodeau and Taylor Goodwin each had one of their own, as the Tigers pummeled Moncton 7-0, the largest victory in team history since 2007. They followed up that huge win with another the next day, this time a 1-0 victory against the previously unbeaten UNB Varsity Reds. Katie Morgan made four saves and Scarlett Smith scored in the 35th minute as the Tigers handed UNB their only loss of the regular season.
They followed the big wins up with a tie against Acadia, before blanking the UPEI Panthers 2-0.
The Tigers took on the Memorial Sea-Hawks at home in their final game of the season, looking to lock up the third seed in the league heading into the AUS championship. Despite dominating the Sea-Hawks, the Tigers trailed 1-0 heading into halftime. Not going down without a fight, Victoria Parkinson scored her sixth goal of the season in the 66th minute to tie the game up at one. The Tigers kept pressing, and they more than doubled the Sea-Hawks in shots, but it was Memorial who broke the dead-lock in the final minute as the Tigers came up empty-handed.
They finished the season in fifth-place, with a 6-4-3 record. At the AUS awards luncheon, Kristy McGregor-Bales, Victoria Parkinson and Michelle Yates were all named AUS first team all-stars. Yates was also named a first team All-Canadian, while Parkinson was named to the second team.
The Tigers hosted the 2014 Subway AUS Championship, and their first match-up came against the Acadia Axewomen. The teams had tied both previous matchups in the season, and it was just as close as expected early on. The Axewomen snuck one past the Tigers in the 61st minute, and the Tigers couldn’t manage to find the back of the net despite a late surge as they fell 1-0.
Despite the quarter-final exit, Coach Hutchinson is very confident in his team moving forward.
“We have great team unity,” says Hutchinson. “We know what we need to do to win and now we need to focus on improving.”