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Whilst the National Womens Under 18 Team rallied back against Great Britain in a 3-2 loss, the AWIHL was full of tight clashes on the home front as well. Melbourne Ice won both games on the weekend against a determined Adelaide Adrenaline outfit. The wins did not come easy with the Ice winning 2-1 on Saturday night and narrowly escaping with a 6-5 shootout win on Sunday night. Up in Brisbane the Sirens started the weekend hot with a 4-2 win on Saturday, but a hat-trick from Sharna Godfrey still wasn’t enough to get the Sirens a second win as they fell short 4-3 on Sunday.
It was no surprise on Saturday night with the scrappy play that all goals came on the special teams. Shona Powell breaking the ice in the first period on the Power play followed by her teammate Carly Rolph doing some damage shorthanded. Kelly Harris upset Melbourne’s chance at a shutout early into the third period on a power play chance giving her team the momentum boost they needed. Despite pulling the goalie with 1:35 left in the game they just couldn’t find the tying goal they needed.
Adelaide carried that momentum into Sunday taking an early 2-1 lead after the first period. Melbourne evened up the scores on the power play in the second period but Adelaide pushed ahead again 4-3. Shona Powell capped off a hat-trick to get the Ice back in front 5-4, but the Ice couldn’t hold off the Adrenaline for a second game in a row as the Adrenaline tied up the game with 5 minutes remaining eventually leading to a sudden death shootout where Kristelle Vanderwolf would nab the game winner.
Shona Powell wasn’t the only one scoring the hat-tricks as Sharna Godfrey and Rosanna Routledge managed to exchange each of their own on Sunday. On Satruday Godrey got her team rolling opening the Sirens account in the second. Megan Gilchrist scored her first goal of the season for the Goannas to tie up the game. Sydney responded with three unanswered goals off the back of Sandra Giustiniani, Christina Puckert and Remi Harvey. Brisbane attempted to stage a late come back thanks to Veronica Watson who was helped by Gilchrist notching her first assist of the season as well. The Goannas however ran out of time in a 4-2 loss.
Just like Adelaide they saved their goals for Sunday racing out to a 2-0 lead in the first Watson getting the helpers on both goals. Sharna Godfrey got her team on the board but Rosanna Routledge responded with her second of the game extending the lead to 3-1. Whilst the Sirens and Goanna’s were battling so were Godfrey and Routledge as Godfrey made it 3-2, Routledge responded to make it 4-2. The Sirens managed to make it 4-3 early in the third but Goanna’s managed to hold on for their first regulation win of the season.