SASKATOON – University of Saskatchewan captain Kaitlin Willoughby scored the lone goal in the shootout to lift the Huskies (15-7-1-1) 2-1 over the No. 3 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (13-5-3-3) Saturday night in Rutherford Rink.

As Saskatchewan's second shooter, Willoughby fired a wrister to beat UBC netminder Amelia Boughn into the upper part of the net. Fellow fifth-years Kennedy Harris and Kori Herner were both stopped by Boughn while Huskie goaltender Jessica Vance stopped Shay-Lee McConnell, Cassandra Vilgrain and Mathea Fischer.

Both the 'Birds and Huskies are tied with 48 points in the standings with four games remaining in the regular season. Saskatchewan completed the season series sweep of the T-Birds, a feat not completed since the 2011-12 season.

"We weren't happy with how we played yesterday but today I thought we played really well," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas shortly after the loss. "The shots and chances weren't indicative, it was a really good game. They had four straight power plays in the third and they finally got one off a weird bounce. I was really proud of our girls in how we responded today and how we played a consistent 60 minutes and executed a game plan against a really good team."



Logan Boyd tallied UBC's only goal of the weekend 17 minutes into the second period. The teams were playing four-on-four after penalties were taken 14 seconds apart. Hannah Clayton-Carroll sent the puck in front of Vance to a streaking Boyd who flipped it stick side past Vance.

The goal ended Vance's shutout streak at 273 minutes, third on the Canada West all-time list.

Harris tied the game at 12:35 of the third on the power play. A bouncing puck from the end boards landed on Harris' stick and she quickly shot it past Boughn.

Vance made 21 saves in total for the win while Boughn stopped 39.

The T-Birds return home to host the Mount Royal Cougars next Friday and Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre for their final home dates of the regular season.

"We need to put the pedal back to the medal and get back to habits and get ready to play desperate playoff hockey," added Thomas. "It's a bit of a wakeup call for us and to be honest, I think it's timely. I think this will be good for us, we just have to make sure we're playing that kind of desperate hockey for these last four games."