Box Score LONDON, Ont. – It was all Mustangs in a 4-0 win over the Waterloo Warriors on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena, with four of five senior skaters registering points and senior netminder Olivia Ross collecting the shutout.
 
Today not only marked the final game of the regular season on the calendar for the Mustangs but also a more emotional marker: Seniors Day.  Before the game began the six senior players on the Western Mustangs were honoured with a ceremony at centre ice. 
 
Team captian Carly Rolph, Tara Cation, Sydney Kidd, Ally Galloway, Michelle Saunders, and goalie Ross all received flowers, a game jersey, and a book of memorabilia from their coaching staff to commemorate their career achievements and hard work while playing for the Mustangs. 
 
The milestone marker was an emotional one that appeared to help the seniors elevate their game as four of the five senior skaters collected points while Ross stood strong between the pipes for the shutout.  The game also marked Ross' return to the lineup, as the veteran netminder has battled injury for most of the season. Her efforts did not go unnoticed by her teammates. 
 
Fellow senior Ally Galloway spoke to Ross' performance following the match: "She's been suffering this whole year pretty much but when we need her she's in the net. Shutout for her, which is amazing, hopefully she can play in the playoffs too."
 
Galloway, who assisted on Western's third goal, will actually be returning for a fifth year but was intent on sharing the moment with her 'sisters'.

"I could have done it next year," she said after the game. "But I wanted to be on the ice with them [and] graduate [with them] because I've been with them for all four years. It's an honour to be with them but glad I'm coming back next year too."
 
The six seniors were joined by their parents on the ice but were happy to share the spotlight and success with the rest of their team and their coach.  Head coach Chris Higgins acknowledged their performance after the game, saying, "I thought they played extremely well, a great way to end their regular season of their varsity career."
 
Higgins also alluded to how great it was to have Ross back from injury but that the team still has more players to get healthy.  Team scoring leader Stacey Scott (7G—10A—17Pts) remained out of the lineup for the fourth consecutive game with a lower body injury, and she was also joined today by defencemen and power play specialist Brianna Iazzolino. 
 
"That's our problem, right," Higgins said of the injuries after the game. "Today we missed Brianna –she didn't feel quite well– and she's the key to our power play so the power play wasn't as effective as it could be. Brianna will be back on Wednesday but Stacey's still a week or two away but we do miss her."
 
Despite missing key offensive players the Mustangs still managed to put up four goals on Waterloo including one on the power play. In a way, the Senior ceremony also seemed to add some motivation for all of the Mustangs to play well, because once the puck dropped to start the game the Western women flashed their ownership papers and took control of the puck. 
 
The purple and white looked sharp to start the game as they cycled the puck down low, testing out the Warrior defence.  It only took the Mustangs three minutes to find the twine and get on the board first as Brittany Clapham opened the scoring with help from Kidd and Rolph. 
 
Kidd controlled the puck along the sideboards and skated the puck towards the goal line before firing a centering to pass to her line mate Rolph, who got a stick on the puck and directed it on net.  Clapham came in behind the scrum in front of the cage and picked up the rebound, showing off her skills as she made a nice move to curl and drag the puck to the far side to beat Waterloo goaltender Rebecca Bouwhuis. 
 
The majority of the remaining frame was played between the blue lines with both teams stifling the others attempts to transition into the offensive zone.  Waterloo battled back, firing seven shots on net, forcing Ross to play well early.  Her best save of the period came on a shorthanded breakaway as she stoned the Waterloo Warrior with a pad save as she tried to deke past her. Ross' stop ensured the Mustangs headed to the dressing room with their one goal lead firmly intact. 
 
The Warriors came out flying to start the second, controlling the puck and the tempo of play for what seemed to be the entire first half of the period.  Nonetheless, the Western defence stood tall in front of their netminder and battled through the pressure.  Waterloo appeared poised to tie the game but hitting the post would be the closest they would come in the period.
 
Half way through the second frame the tides began to turn back in Western's favour when Jessica Sorensen, who scored the Mustangs lone goal yesterday against Laurier, stormed into the offensive zone off the rush and put one on the board.  She used the Warrior defender as a screen and fired a shot that found its way through Bouwhuis to put her purple and white ahead by two. 
 
Just over five minutes later after the two teams exchanged power play chances it would be the Mustangs to strike next.  While controlling the puck in the offensive zone, Tara Cation set up Ally Galloway for a shot that she fired off of the goal post.  The puck rolled across the crease behind the Warrior netminder right onto the stick of Cassidy Gosling who was stationed at the backdoor. Gosling made no mistake, hacking in the rebound to increase the Western lead to three.

The goal put the Mustangs squarely in the drivers seat, allowing them to continue applying their offensive pressure as they went on to outshoot the Warriors 12-7 in the period.
 
The third period was much of the same for the Mustangs.  They continued to cycle and control the puck while stifling the Waterloo offence. Despite being outshot 10-6 in the period, the Mustangs got back to playing their game, enforcing a physical style of play that was too much for Waterloo to overcome. 
 
The Warriors could not seem to find an answer for Ross either, leading to some frustration that landed two Waterloo players in the box in the final minute of play. The two-man advantage was a nice gift to end the match as it only took senior Sydney Kidd five seconds to find the back of the net. The power play goal was icing on the cake for the seniors as the Mustangs skated to a dominating 4-0 victory in their final game of the regular season. 
 
The two points that came with today's win are enough to push the Mustangs into a sixth place finish in the OUA standings, solidifying a first round playoff matchup against the Toronto Varsity Blues for the third year in a row.  Western emerged victorious from the last two playoff series, however they have yet to beat the Blues so far this season.  That being said, the 2-1 and 4-1 losses to Toronto do not seem to have the purple and white worried one bit.
 
"They've played us well the two times we played them but I'm not worried." Coach Higgins said postgame. "We will compete and it will be a very good game. The game is in three days [so] we're not going to do anything different."

"We're just going to play our game, they're going to play their game, and its going to come down to goaltending and special teams – and we like our goaltending, we like our special teams and they like theirs so its going to be a one goal game either way."
 
As the lower seed, the Mustangs will be on the road in Toronto for the first game of best-of-three first round playoff matchup this Wednesday, February 12.