LONDON Ont. - The shootout was the Achilles heel of the Western Mustangs women's hockey team (9-11-4), as they fell just short to the Toronto Varsity Blues (12-9-2) losing 2-1 on Jan. 31 at Thompson Arena.

After Brittany Buck (Etobicoke, Ont.) buried a goal in the late seconds of the first period, the Mustangs were on their heels until the third, where it was two power play goals by Katie Dillon (Oshawa, Ont.) and Jamie Carver (London, Ont.) that tied the game back up at three goals a peice, sending the game to overtime, and then ultimately a shootout.

In the fifth round of the shootout, Varsity Blues forward Karolina Urban snapped a shot over the shoulder of goaltender Jessica Ulrich (Keswick, Ont.) to seal the win for Toronto.

As happy as Mustangs head coach Paul Cook was that his team came back from 3-1 down to push the game to extra time, he doesn't usually want to be in those types of positions.

"It's tough, you can't give up two shorthanded goals in a game, but I am very proud of how our team came back," said Cook. "Overtime was very even and the shootout is pretty much a crap-shoot. We practice shootouts one or two times a week but once you get out there it's basically down to luck."

Emotions were running high throughout the game, as it was the final regular season home game for graduating players on the team. Captain Veronica Johnston (Oshawa, Ont.) and assistant captain Kaley Sisler (Arkona, Ont.) were honoured as graduating student-athletes during the seniors day ceremony held before puck drop.

During the game though, it was the Varsity Blues who let emotions get to them, as they took 11 penalties in the game, including seven in a row, which ultimately let the Mustangs back into the game.

"We had our chances, with some of our best players, and sometimes that's just not enough, the luck just wasn't with us and we couldn't capitalize on all of our opportunities," said the sixth-year head coach Cook following the game.

The shootout loss marks the last home game of the season for the Mustangs as they now have three games on the road to wrap up the regular season. Gaining one point with the loss, the Mustangs now sit in sixth place in the OUA, with 22 points, while Brock is hot on the Mustangs tale with 21.

First up on the final road stand is a trip to UOIT to take on the Ridgebacks on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and then games against Queen's and Windsor to round out the regular season.