LETHBRIDGE — Following two unanswered goals in the first period, strong defensive efforts by the Lethbridge Pronghorns secured a 2-1 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies, splitting the weekend series.
 
Lethbridge's Alicia Anderson gave a strong performance, helping her side to a win with a 34-save performance. Saskatchewan's starting netminder Jessica Vance also had a sturdy performance, turning aside 25 shots in the loss.
 
All three goals of the game came in the first period, with the Huskies coming out early, followed by the Pronghorns two unanswered goals.
 
A cross-crease attempt by Rachel Lundberg ricocheted off of Anderson's pad into the slot for Emma Nutter, whose wrister found an open spot under Anderson's blocker for a Huskies powerplay marker.
 
Lethbridge answered close to the halfway mark of the period, as a Brooklyn Palmer slapshot was gloved down to the ice by a sliding Vance, but Madison Porter saw the puck loose from Vance's glove, tucking it in for her side's first goal of the game.
 
Good fortune was granted to the home side later in the period, as a lucky bounce off a Meg Dyer wrist shot managed to trickle past Vance, who was sliding through her crease regaining position. Dyer's unassisted marker put her team up a goal and would stand as the game-winning goal.
 
The Pronghorns got themselves out of some penalty trouble in the early going of period two, with the special teams killing off three consecutive minor penalties in the first half of the frame. The Huskies killed off their only penalty of the second period in its last minute.
 
The third period saw very little action outside of some time in the sin bin for both sides, with each team killing off two more penalties in the final frame.
 
Saskatchewan opted to pull their goalie in the last minute of play, but could not convert on the many late chances garnered by the extra player, the case in Friday's game. Therefore, the score after 60 minutes remained equal to its tally after the first 20: two goals to one, in favour of the home side.
 
With the win, the Pronghorns move two points ahead of the University of Calgary Dinos to secure top spot in the Canada West conference, now with a record of 4-1-0-1. Saskatchewan's loss puts them in fifth place with a record of 2-2-1-1.
 
The Pronghorns will be in Edmonton next weekend to take on the University of Alberta Pandas, and the Huskies will face the Dinos in Calgary.