SARNIA, Ontario – The U.S. Women’s National Team dropped a 3-2 shootout contest to Canada, in game four of the 2023-24 Rivalry Series at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena on Saturday evening. 

Despite the loss, the U.S. holds a 3-1 lead in the series.

“The game was such a back-and-forth contest,” said John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.), head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team. “It was a physical contest and a classic U.S., Canada game.”

Just a minute into the game, goaltender Nicole Hensley (Lakewood, Colo.) made a save on a shot from the slot where Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) batted a trickling puck off the goal line to keep it scoreless. 

A few minutes later, Hensley made yet another goal-line save with her blocker to keep Canada off the boards. 

The U.S. registered its first scoring chance at 13:46 in the first, when Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn.) dug the puck out of the corner and sent a pass to a waiting Lacey Eden (Annapolis, Md.), whose deflection just caught the pads of Canadian netminder Ann-Renee Desbiens. Abby Roque (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) had a breakaway stopped later in the period as the teams entered the first intermission scoreless.

Midway through the middle frame, Team USA opened the scoring on a shorthanded opportunity. Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn.) poked the puck away through the neutral zone, creating a two-on-one chance, where she laced a pass that deflected in off Megan Keller’s (Farmington Hills, Mich.) stick. 

Team USA’s second goal was almost identical to its first. Early in the third, a two-on-one opportunity developed through the neutral zone, with Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif.) carrying it into the offensive zone. She lifted a pass that deflected off the outreached stick of Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) to put the U.S. up 2-0. 

With a little under ten minutes remaining in the game, Canada got one back when Danielle Serdachny beat Hensley to a puck above the crease. Canada then tied the contest two minutes later when Ella Shelton put a rising shot to the corner of the net. 

The teams went to overtime, before Canada won the shootout, 1-0.

HIGHLIGHTS

GAME PHOTOS