KINGSTON, Ont. — It was a must win for the Western Mustangs women’s hockey team. After losing the opening game of the OUA championship series by a score of 4-0, the Mustangs were looking to stretch the best-of-three series to a third and final game.
 
Despite a hard fought match, the Mustangs fell to the Queen’s Gaels by a score of 5-4, marking the second year in a row the Mustangs have lost in the OUA final.
 
The first period opened quickly with both teams eager to control play. Then at 4:21 of the first period, Western forward Stacey Scott took a pass from Kryshandra Green and was able to put the puck past Gaels goalie Melanie Dodd-Moher to give the Mustangs the early 1-0 lead.
 
Up by one, the Mustangs got into penalty trouble when Michelle Saunders was put into the box for two. The Gaels took advantage of the opportunity, and Danielle Girard scored to even the score at 1-1. Then just over two minutes later, Kristin Smith beat Kelly Campbell to give Queen’s the 2-1 lead.
 
An injury to Campbell resulted in Olivia Ross coming into the Mustangs net at the start of the second period and playing the remainder of the game. The Gaels began the second frame on the power play and once again capitalized on the man advantage. Morgan McHaffie took a pass from Girard and gave her team the reassuring 3-1 lead.
 
And the scoring continued for the home team, as Courtenay Jacklin added another tally for her team to give them the commanding 4-1 advantage.
 
Looking a little lost, the Mustangs struggled to gain any kind of offensive pressure, only registering 12 shots in the first two periods.
 
Finally the Mustangs got their chance to execute their power play when the Gaels took a penalty of their own. The Mustangs earned their second goal of the game when Scott took a pass from Cassidy Gosling and didn’t make any mistake. With their deficit down to two, the Mustangs continued to put the pressure on.
 
Once again, the Mustangs earned the power play and this time it was Cassidy Gosling taking the pass from Scott to score for the Mustangs. The second period would end with the score 4-3 in the Gaels favour.  
 
After their offensive resurgence in the second, the Mustangs were hoping to complete the comeback in the third and tie the series up. Unfortunately, just three minutes into the third period, Gaels forward Taryn Pilon once again extended the Gaels lead.
 
The Mustangs continued to play hard throughout the period, often controlling the play and pressing Queen's at every opportunity.
 
Once again on the power play, Mustangs Katelyn Gosling scored on a pass from Tara Cation to cut the Gaels lead to one with a little over five minutes to play. Despite continued pressure till the very end, the Mustangs were unable to accomplish the comeback and the Queen’s Gaels won the game 5-4 as well as the OUA championship.