The goal was the only one P.E.I. needed in the second round of a shootout Friday for a 4-3 victory in the club championship pool semifinal game at the Esso Women’s Nationals hockey championships at MacLauchlan Arena.

The win put the soaring Island squad into the gold-medal game today (12:30 p.m., MacLauchlan Arena) against Manitoba, who defeated Nova Scotia 3-2 in overtime in the other semifinal game on Friday.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia will play for the bronze at 9 a.m.

O’Donnell also scored P.E.I.’s only goal in the first round of the shootout right after New Brunswick’s Sarah MacDonnell roofed a shot past P.E.I. goalie Diana Benell to give her team a short-lived advantage.

Benell, who was name player of the game for P.E.I., stood tall against the next three shooters.

She also kicked out 33 of 36 shots in the game, including a scoreless 10-minute overtime that led to the dramatic shootout.

Solid goaltending has been key to the upstart Island team winning four straight games to earn the right to battle today for the crown in the provincial championship pool.

Benell and Elizabeth LeGay have alternated net duty, collectively keeping out all but eight of 143 shots, as the team has been outshot by large margins in three of their four games so far.

(P.E.I. outshot New Brunswick 39-20 Thursday).

Benell shrugs off the shot bombardment.

“More fun for us,’’ she said of the Island team’s dual netminders. “We don’t mind.’’

P.E.I. head coach Al MacKay said following the big win Friday that he had yet to decide who he would put in today, then joked that he might “split’’ the duty between his two stellar goalies.

MacKay said his players have played stronger as each game progressed, continually gaining confidence.

“I’ve been with the program now for four years and the one thing that I’ve been trying to instill in the players for the last four years is believe . . . and that first win (6-3 victory over Manitoba on Tuesday), they just started to get some belief in themselves.”

MacKay said the feeling in the dressing room following Friday’s win was one of anticipation rather than a celebration of securing no worse than a silver medal finish.

“Actually, the medal wasn’t mentioned in there,’’ he said. “We’re in a gold-medal game, and we want to do the Island proud. We want to bring it home for sure.’’

O’Donnell, who leads the tournament with nine goals and two assists (she scored two regulation goals Friday in addition to her two shoot-out markers), doesn’t feel she is being leaned on to carry the team.

“Everyone looks to everyone for leadership,’’ she said.

“We are really team-oriented. So everyone steps forward when they need to.’’

She said P.E.I. is set for a rematch with the team they beat on the first day of the tournament, but she hopes to avoid the lopsided play that saw Manitoba outshoot her squad 46-13.

“Yeah, everyone’s pumped,’’ she said shortly after her team advanced to the gold match.

“We just have to play our defence really well. (Manitoba) got a lot of shots last time so we want to keep that low and just work hard.’’

*****

Manitoba 3 N.S. 2 (OT)

Shelley Cockerill scored at 2:30 of overtime to give Manitoba the win over Nova Scotia in provincial championship pool semifinal action Friday at the Esso Women’s Nationals hockey championships in Charlottetown.

Jayne Knowles scored the only goal of the first period to give Nova Scotia a 1-0 lead.

Nova Scotia made it 2-0 on a goal by Kimberly Carcary at 3:51 of the second.

Manitoba got on the board at 16:09 as Crystal Rochon scored.

It stayed 2-1 for Nova Scotia until the 13:24 mark of the third when Manitoba’s Devon Fingland tied the game on a power play.

Manitoba outshot Nova Scotia 35-21.