Box Score LONDON, Ont. - After a win against York on Saturday, the Western Mustangs women’s hockey team hoped to keep the intensity high and get their second win of the weekend, facing off against the UOIT Ridgebacks on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena. After three well played periods and solid goaltending from Kelly Campbell, Western beat the UOIT Ridgebacks, 2-0.
The Mustangs had an opportunity to take the lead early on with a five-on-three power play in the opening minutes of the game, but the Ridgebacks were able to keep the Mustangs from taking the early lead. Despite killing off the the five-on-three UOIT would not be able to keep the Western scorers off the board in the first as Samantha Nastasiuk, with an assist from Carly Rolph, scored top shelf on the Ridgeback goalie Jessica Larabie. The Mustangs would take their hard fought 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
With two periods still to be played the Mustangs needed to keep their intensity up and the Mustangs defence kept the Ridgeback scorers from seizing key chances for the ridgebacks to even the score. The second period would remain 1-0 in Westerns favour, as both teams were unable to find success in their opponents end.
The third period opened up for Western shooters as they out shot the Ridgebacks 20-7. Sidney Kidd’s would find the back of the net with just under seven minutes left in the period on a slap shot from the point, giving the Mustangs their second and final goal off the game. Western would hold on for the remainder of the frame, taking home a 2-0 victory.
“The [power play units] didn’t score until the end, they had all kinds of chances,” said head Coach Chris Higgins following the game. “That’s all we can do, give them the puck. Their goalie played extremely well tonight.”
“We’ve been working on our conditioning all year,” said Higgins on the strength of the team in the final 20 minutes. “If we win the third period of every game, we will be in great shape by the end of the season.”
The Mustangs will play at home against the Windsor Lancers next Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena.
