If there was ever a question whether the Waterloo Warriors would be nervous wading into their first-ever national championship game, it was answered in 27 seconds. And before their afternoon was done, they checked a few more firsts off their bucket list – including their first-ever trip to the national semifinal. 

Tatum James (Stratford, ON/) scored on the first shot of the game and notched her first career hat trick, while Sarah Bestic's (Waterloo,ON/) first U Sports goal was the eventual game-winner, as the fourth-seed Warriors defeated the fifth-seed St FX X-Women 6-1 in their quarterfinal matchup at the 2024 U Sports Women's Hockey National Championship in Saskatoon. 

Madison Pritchard (Richards Landing,ON/) registered a goal and an assist, while Bestic's early-third-period tally opened the floodgates for the Warriors – Waterloo scored five of their six goals in an explosive final frame. But it was James – part of a dynamic duo with all-star Leah Herrfort (Palmerston,ON/) – who claimed player-of-the-game honours with a three-goal, one-assist masterclass in Waterloo's national championship debut. 

"They're just such great impact players," said Waterloo head coach Shaun Reagan of his two leading scorers. "I know teams play physical against them, but they're tough to hold back for a whole game. They were awesome today." 

It was James who opened the scoring within the game's first minute, when James reached behind her with one arm, knocked the puck down with her glove, and settled it just enough to slide it through X-Women goalie Amaya Giraudier. St. FX tried to push back later in the frame thanks to three straight power play opportunities, but Waterloo netminder Mikayla Schnarr (Waterloo,ON/) and the high-ranked Warriors penalty killing unit kept the X-Women off the board. 

"It was outstanding for us to get that early goal," said Reagan. "We thought we were really good for the first five minutes after that, and then we got into some penalty trouble and got on our heels a bit. But Mik stood tall for us." 

The tight-checking affair continued through the second period, but the Warriors started to pile up the scoring chances off the rush. Meanwhile, the X-women – who led the nation with over 39 shots on goal per game – couldn't get much going in the offensive zone. Through two periods, St. FX had only been able to muster 15 shots on Schnarr. 

"Our 5-on-5 D-zone play was really good today," said Reagan. "Where we got into trouble was penalties in the first. But our D took control at even strength, And we generated some good chances off our D-zone play." 

Just over seven minutes into the third period, with Waterloo still leading just 1-0, the Warriors got their much-needed insurance marker on one of those transition plays: starting from her own blue line, Bestic weaved her way down the ice with a head of steam, made a move to get herself a shooting lane, and zipped a perfectly-placed wrister to the top corner. In her 46th career U Sports game, Bestic had her first goal – and it was a beauty on the biggest possible stage. 

"She's such a great person, always in a good mood, I'm just so happy for her" said Reagan. "We talked about going wide on their D, and she did exactly that, and put it bar-down. It was great." 

With a two-goal lead, the Warriors kept coming. Just past the midway point of the period, Elizabeth Lenardon (Kelowna,BC/) lifted the stick of an X-Women defender and spun a centering pass out front to James, who deposited her second of the contest. Later in the third, James completed the hat trick into the empty net to make it 4-0, before St. FX drew back to within three with a 6-on-4 power play goal by Ireland McCloskey. Carly Orth (Bolton,ON/) found an empty net to make it 5-1, while Pritchard rounded out the scoring with a tipped-in power play tally in the final minute. 

Schnarr made 20 saves on 21 shots to claim the win. Herrfort, Jessie Fennell (Fonthill, ON/), and Faith Mitchell (Stirling, ON/) also found the score sheet with an assist each, as the Warriors punched their ticket to Saturday afternoon's national semifinal game against the top-seed Concordia Stingers. Puck drop is slated for 6pm eastern on Saturday afternoon, and will be streamed live on cbcsports.ca and the CBC Gem app.