LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs took an early lead but ran into the solid goaltending of Beth Clause, losing 3-1 in the first game of the season in front of 121 fans at Thompson Arena on Oct. 10.

With the win, Brock improves to 1-0. Western (0-1) faces Guelph tomorrow, Sunday Oct. 11, at 2 p.m. at Thompson Arena. The Gryphons finished second in the OUA in 2008-09.

"We played one good period, one mediocre period and one bad period... we need to play a full game like we did in the first period," said head coach Paul Cook. "I was happy with some things... we had lots of opportunities to build on the lead but couldn't capitalize."

Ellie Seedhouse (Whitby, Ont.) scored the only goal for Western, while Jessica Ulrich (Keswick, Ont.) made 21 saves in the loss. Kelly Walker (Brampton, Ont.), Brianne Veale (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and Courtney Sutherland (Mount Forest, Ont.) scored for Brock.

Western applied great early pressure, forcing the Badgers to play a defensive style.

"We had a really good start," Cook said. "I was really pleaed, any time you can hold a team to just a few shots in the first period, you have to be pretty pleased."

The Mustangs survived and early scare, escaping a Veronica Johnston (Mississauga, Ont.) giveaway as Jessica Ulrich (Keswick, Ont.) stopped Brock's Shannon McLeod (Port Dover, Ont.) on a good shot from 10 feet out to keep the game scoreless.

The host Western squad gained momentum off the stop. Minutes after, Seehouse scored, taking an Ashley Karapalidis (Hamilton, Ont.) feed on a 4-on-3 powerplay just over six minutes into the game to give Western the 1-0 lead. Seedhouse, a junior forward, outwaited Brock's senior goalie Beth Clause (Hamilton, Ont.) and fired a quick wristshot, high glove-side.

Kailey Hooker (Mississauga, Ont.) made a good play after a faceoff win to keep the puck in the Brock zone and dish it to Karapalidis who fed Seehouse for the tally.

It was a tame start with a lot of stick-infraction penalties, but the game took an intense turn in the opening period with lots of action after the whistle and some rough play.

Exactly three minutes into the second period, Sutherland saw her centring pass get redirected by Walker to tie the game. It was a lucky goal as Walker was driving hard to the net and caught Ulrich gliding to her far post to take away the higher-percentage shot from the far-wing Badgers' player.

Just over two minutes later on the powerplay, Courtney Stevens' point shot was redirected by forward Emily Hooper (Hamilton, Ont.), but Ulrich made a great save in the butterfly to keep the game tied.

Both goaltenders made some great saves throughout th erest of the period, and the teams remained tied at 1-1 after 40 minutes.

In the third, Clause robbed Seedhouse just over two minutes into the frame, making a nice low pad save.

Her Badgers' teammates came down the other end of the ice and got the puck deep and took the lead. Veale scored on a wrap-around, catching Ulrich off guard.

Just over a minute later, Sutherland made it 3-1, taking a nice stretch pass from Stephens, splitting the Western defence and scoring beating Ulrich who came out to challenge to shooter.

Two goals in just over a minute hurt the host Mustangs.

"We gave up two goals too quickly... They capitalized on two of our mistakes," Cook said. "It just deflated us. We battled against two teams today: Brock and ourselves. We can't put our selves in that position.  We have to learn how to bounce back."

Western's powerplay was 1/7, but Cook said he expected better performance.

"Our two powerplay units need to be better," Cook said. "But we made an adjustment, put some new players in late, and they generated some chances."

Western put on late pressure through the final five minutes, but could not beat Clause and the Badgers held on to spoil Western's home opener.

Cook said the team goal is to make the playoffs "and seriously be in them."

"The new players played well in their roles and did what I expected they would do in their first game," Cook said. "Our second and third-year players, we'll rely on them heavily this year. We had 10 new players two years in a row, now they're more experienced we expect more."

The Mustangs host Guelph on Sunday Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. at Thompson Arena.

Brock 3 Western 1
(At Thompson Arena)
1st Period
1. Western, Seedhouse 1 (Karapalidis, Hooker), 6:34 (pp)
Penalties-Carver Uwo (hooking), 3:02; Cox Uwo (tripping), 5:08; McLeod Bro (hooking), 5:57; Lee Bro (body checking), 6:15; Samborski Bro (high sticking), 8:10; Wilson Bro (roughing), 15:51; Gidomski Uwo (roughing), 15:51; Flanagan Uwo (interference), 19:22.
2nd Period
2. Brock, Walker 1 (Sutherland), 3:00
Penalties-Dillon Uwo (body checking), 5:39; Welten Uwo (hooking), 6:10; Gidomski Uwo (hooking), 7:18; Matheson Bro (slashing), 7:32; Stevens Bro (body checking), 13:55; Hooper Bro (body checking), 16:01; Welten Uwo (hooking), 17:40.
3rd Period
3. Brock, Veale 1   3:13
4. Brock, Sutherland 1 (Stevens), 4:36
Penalties-Matheson Bro (high sticking), 6:24; Young Bro (roughing), 17:04; Hooker Uwo (roughing), 17:04; Wilson Bro (roughing), 19:26; Seedhouse Uwo (roughing), 19:26.
Scoring By 1 2 3 F
Brock   0  1  2 3
Western   1  0  0 1
Shots on Goal By 1 2 3 F
Brock   7 10 7 24
Western   10 9 12 31
Power Play Opportunities: Brock 0/7; Western 1/7.
Goalies-Brock, Clause (W, 1-0-0-0, 30 0 saves on 31 shots), Western, Ulrich (L, 0-1-0-0, 21 saves on 24 shots)
Referee: Mike Turcotte
Linesmen: Meg Black, Chris Broadworth
Attendance: 121