Box Score LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs women's hockey team defeated the Nipissing Lakers this evening at Thompson Arena in a 3-2 come-from-behind win for their second consecutive victory. The team, now at 5-1-0, moves into first place in the OUA with the win.
 
Despite the victory, assistant coach Ted Brown still sees that the Mustangs have some work to do. "I didn't think that we really played up to our potential," said Brown post-game. "We did what we had to do to win. We'll regroup this week in practice and make sure to fix the little things that really didn't go well. This is the type of team that can rebound and do that."
 
Western proved to be the stronger team for much of the first period and was not afraid to take any and every possible shot on net, but the results were not what they were looking for. Penalty trouble for the Mustangs at the end of the first period gave Nipissing a two-player advantage and the motivation to get the first and only goal of the period. As Nicole Latreille and Stacey Scott both sat in the box, the Lakers put pressure on the Mustangs, eventually beating Western's starting netminder Kelly Campbell to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Giveaways in the neutral zone and puck-clearing trouble plagued the Mustangs for most of the second period. While the purple and white still outshot the Lakers 18-6 in the period, the Lakers were once again the only team to score a goal. The Mustangs defence were pinching, hoping to create an offensive attack, which in the end resulted in a 3-on-1 heading back towards Campbell. She cleared the first shot, but was not able to reel in the rebound. Laker Alexane Papineau got credit for the goal and the Lakers took a 2-0 lead heading into the third and final frame.
 
The Mustangs answered back in the third period and two Western goals scored within 31 seconds of each other had the team back in tying position before the midway point. Brittany Clapham potted the Mustangs first goal of the game off of multiple rebounds while rookie Jessica Sorensen continued her strong start, scoring the tying goal on a 2-on-1 with 13 minutes remaining.
 
Just as both teams began to get a lot more physical, Carly Rolph netted the game-winner for the Mustangs at 13:53 off of a beautiful shot high on the stick side. With the Mustangs now up 3-2, Nipissing pulled out all the stops in order to tie the game, but fell short of getting a third goal even with an extra player for the last minute. 
 
Rochefort turned aside 42 shots for the Lakers and Campbell 24 for the Mustangs.
 
"Personally I didn't think we played well in the second period," added Brown. "We had some bad bounces. We had a good talk in between the second and third periods, and between the first and second period. And I think the players responded, especially in the third knowing that there was something meaningful on the line here."
 
Western now hits the road for five games, the first being against rivals the Windsor Lancers on Saturday, October 26. The red-hot Lancers (3-2-1) are on a three-game win streak of their own and will look to take down the Mustangs and move up in the OUA standings. Puck drop is 4:00 p.m. at South Windsor Arena.