Box Score LONDON, Ont. – The Western women's hockey team skated to an exciting 6-2 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs Friday night at Thompson Arena.

Western spread the scoring around on Friday with six goals coming from six different players, helping the No. 10 nationally-ranked Mustangs to improve to 4-1-1 on the season.
 
"I thought for 50 minutes of the game we were very, very good, but there were stretches where we just didn't seem to be ourselves. We're not playing 60 minutes yet. The team is not at that level yet," said Mustangs head coach Chris Higgins.
 
The Voyageurs took an interference penalty not one minute into the first frame giving the Mustangs several shots on net. It was not until the teams were back at even strength though that the Mustangs' Madison Turk put one past Voyageur goalkeeper Emily Toffoli to take a 1-0 lead. Western's second goal of the game came from Brittany Clapham at 16:57 of the first. Turk shot the puck down the ice, narrowly missing the net, and as the team rushed down into the offensive zone, the commotion in front of the net allowed Clapham to tip the puck into the net to make the score 2-0. 
 
Western encountered some difficulty on the penalty kill in the second period, allowing Laurentian to get deep in the Mustang zone. However, Mustangs netminder Olivia Ross stood on her head keeping the Voyageurs at bay. A few moments later Marlowe Pecora put Western up 3-0 on a beautiful wraparound goal at 8:28. Shortly thereafter, as Ross turned aside yet another shot, Western began to take penalties, eventually providing Laurentian with a 2-man advantage. Western successfully killed off the penalties and just as they did, Laurentian's Samantha Morell put her team on the board. At the end of the second period, Western continued to lead 3-1.
 
The offence picked up for both teams in the final frame with four goals coming in the third period. Although the Mustangs controlled the play while in the Laurentian zone they had trouble clearing it out of their own end with Ross denying scoring chances from the Voyageurs. Midway through the period the Mustangs offence broke through scoring three goals in a seven minute span. Second-year forward Natasha Panahi tallied her first goal of the season at 7:47 and less than a minute later, veteran Carly Rolph gave the Mustangs their fifth goal of the game. Stacey Scott scored Western's only powerplay goal at 15:41. The Voyageurs scored their second goal of the game with a minute and a half left closing out the scoring and making it a 6-2 final for Western.
 
When asked about his team's defensive game, Higgins replied, "Some of them had a tough game. We gave up two breakaways, but we talked about that between periods about getting a good forward high to help our defence out when that happens. And we're trying to get out defence to not hit the shin pads so much and take the puck behind the net and work from there.
 
And looking to tomorrow's matchup against the Nipissing Lakers, Higgins added, "They're a much better team tomorrow. And I'm hoping that we just continue to get better. Hoping we get the mistakes out of our system."
 
The Mustangs are right back at it on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Arena, hosting the Nipissing Lakers at 4:00 p.m. Fans from around the world can watch all of the action live on Mustangs TV.