LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs women's hockey team extended their winning streak to six games Saturday afternoon after downing the York Lions 6-3 in an intense home ice battle at London's Thompson Arena.
 
"I thought we played extremely well. There were some questionable calls in the third period and we lost our composure. I give [York] credit, they battled back but we hung on and toughed it out," said Mustangs head coach Chris Higgins. "We played well, but it's hard to kill a six on three for six, seven, eight minutes right, so they are going to score."
 
With the win, the Mustangs currently sit in second place in the OUA standings with a 6-0-1 record while the York Lion's 5-4-0 record on the season places them in fifth.
 
Mustangs defender Emma Pearson got the early lead for the Mustangs with just a minute and a half into the action, as she picked up the puck just inside of the Lion's blue line and fired off a slap shot on Lion's netminder Megan Lee to find the back of the net and give the Mustangs a one-point advantage.
 
The Lions worked hard to respond to the early Mustang goal, but with the purple and white fighting just as hard to maintain the lead, neither team could find the scoreboard before the period ran down, sending the match into the first intermission with a score of 1-0.
 
The Mustangs dominated the second frame and challenged Lee's strength between the posts as the purple and white outshot the Lions 11 to three. Mustang third-year forward, Brianna Iazzolino has been leading the purple and white in assists all season, but in Saturday afternoon's action she switched things up and added her first goal of the season to further the Mustangs lead 2-0.
 
The Mustangs continued to dominate the Lions and with only 29 seconds left in the period, Brittany Clapham made her season scoring debut as she picked up the puck from a scramble in front of the Lions net and moved the puck past Lee to give Western a 3-0 lead heading into the break.
 
Mustang Casey Rosen scored an early third period goal to extend the purple and white lead to 4-0. The Lions responded by putting on a nailbiting performance as the team unleashed a strong offensive attack on the penalty burdened Mustangs. With two of the purple and white in the penalty box midway through the period, the Lions pulled Lee from the net to give them a six-on-three empty net power play. The move paid off for the red and white as Megan Finlay sank the puck in the top right corner of Kelly Campbell's net at 10:16.
 
The Lions kept Lee out of the net for the face-off and continued their six-on-three attack against the Mustangs. With the heavy pressure, the Lions Stephanie Dovaston was able to cut the Mustangs lead 4-2 as she put the puck past Campbell to score at the 11:56 mark.
 
With Lee still out of the action as the red and white tried to make a third period comeback, Mustang Kendra Broad capitalized on the empty net opportunity with a long shot that slid across the Lions undefended goal line, extending the Mustangs lead to 5-2.
 
Despite the Mustang goal, the Lions stuck with their six-player offensive strategy and as a result, the Lions Lisa Stathopulos was able to find the back of Campbell's net for a third time.
 
The Mustangs responded by showing the Lions just how vulnerable an empty net can be as Sydney Kidd put another goal on the board and rounded out the period's scoring frenzy with a score of 6-3. Although the Lions were able to put themselves back into the game, they were unable to over throw the Mustangs advantage.
 
The Mustangs will return to action on Saturday, November 15 as the travel to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.