LONDON, ON - The Laurier Golden Hawks showed exactly why they reign as OUA Champions in Women's Hockey with a dominating performance on Saturday afternoon, leaving the Western Mustangs limping with an 8-0 victory.
Katherine Shiriff (Carrying Place, Ont) opened the scoring 4:37 into the first, poking in a rebound from the right of the goal past an outstretched Jessica Ulrich (Keswick, Ont).
Shiriff didn't waste any time extending the Golden Hawk lead, accepting a Candice Styles (Orangeville, Ont) feed, eventually beating Ulrich once again, this time from point blank range.
Styles was able to walk out of the corner seven minutes later and beat Ulrich as white Mustang jerseys congregated around the net unable to strip Styles of the puck.
Entering the second frame down 3-0, Jessica Ulrich came up with a big breakaway save on Heather Fortuna (Kitchener, Ont) two minutes in.
The netminder wouldn't be able to hold the fort down forever, as Brittany Crago (Stouffville, Ont) notched her first career OUA goal on a goalmouth deflection at 9:25.
Laura Bartolini (Mississauga, Ont) would boost the Laurier lead to 5-0 on a beautiful feed from Shiriff through the slot, eventually beating Ulrich through the legs.
Laurier's sixth goal came in a strange fashion as rookie winger Vanessa Schabkar (Etobicoke, Ont) flew down the wing, and with a centering pass banked the puck in off a Western skate to chase Ulrich from the game.
Despite Laurier's four second period goals, the Mustangs won the shooting category 11-9 in the frame, forcing veteran Hawks goaltender Liz Knox (Stouffville, Ont) to make some key saves to preserve her shutout bid.
The Laurier scoring continued into the third as Western began scrambling in their own zone, allowing offensive catalyst Shiriff go to work, hitting Vanessa Schabkar on the tape as she beat Lindsey Martin (London, Ont) over the blocker to stretch the lead to 8-0.
Laurier outshot Western 33-22 on the afternoon, making the most of their opportunities.
Mustangs coach Paul Cook stated he was nervous coming into action as it was Laurier's first game of the season. Cook felt the Stangs weren't mentally prepared. "I felt we played four periods of hockey last weekend and we lost both games, but today we were napping the entire 60, and we didn't receive the goaltending early on to keep us in this contest. I'm not one to point blame, as it was a team effort out there."
Cook added that "Laurier is the best team in the province for a reason, and we could take a thing or two away from their style. This is a game we'd like to forget, but there are obviously some lessons to be learned and adjustments to be made."
The Mustangs, now 0-3 on the year will look to address their problems as they travel to Waterloo Sunday for a 2pm game with the Warriors in their first road game of the season.
WOMEN'S HOCKEY
Laurier 8 At Western 0
1st Period
1, Laurier, Shirriff 1 (Ironside), 4:37.
2, Laurier, Shirriff 2 (Styles), 6:25.
3, Laurier, Styles 1 (Shirriff, Bartolini), 13:19.
Penalties-Psota Wlu (interference), 1:47; Bartolini Wlu (roughing), 17:19; Karapalidis Uwo (roughing), 17:19.
2nd Period
4, Laurier, Crago 1 (Fortuna, Crarey), 9:25.
5, Laurier, Bartolini 1 (Shirriff, Martin), 13:26.
6, Laurier, Schabkar 1 13:45.
7, Laurier, Rainsberry 1 (Psota, Skeats), 15:56.
Penalties-Skeats Wlu (interference), 4:58; Shirriff Wlu (body checking), 6:36; Repath Uwo (roughing), 10:55; Rainsberry Wlu (body checking), 11:33; Welten Uwo (body checking), 11:33; Schabkar Wlu (slashing), 18:16.
3rd Period
8, Laurier, Schabkar 2 (Shirriff), 2:12.
Penalties-Seedhouse Uwo (cross checking), 0:05; Repath Uwo (body checking), 5:52; Styles Wlu (roughing), 16:40; Rellinger Uwo (roughing), 16:40; Ouellette Uwo (charging), 17:16.
Shots on Goal 1 2 3 T
Laurier 14 9 10 33
Western 4 11 7 22
Scoring By Period 1 2 3 T
Laurier 3 4 1 8
Western 0 0 0 0
Power Play Opportunities
Laurier 0 of 4
Western 0 of 4
Goalies
Laurier, Knox W 1-0-0-0 (22 shots-22 saves)
Western, Ulrich L 0-3-0-0 (22 shots-15 saves), Martin 0-0-0-0 (11 shots-10 saves).
