WINDSOR, Ont. - The Mustangs women's hockey team travelled to Windsor on Saturday afternoon where they their hopes of achieving a three game winning streak this weekend were crushed by a 4-0 shutout victory for the Lancers.
Saturday's contest marks the first game that the Mustangs have lost in regular play as the purple and white were defeated in the first half of the season by the Laurier Golden Hawks (2-1) and the Queens Gaels (2-1) in shootout and overtime action respectively.
With the loss the Mustangs now hold a 14-1-2 record, good for first in the OUA, while the win for the Lancers gives the team an 11-2-4 record and third place in the OUA.
Although the Mustangs and the Lancers have met once already this season when they edged out the blue and yellow 2-1 in shootout action in week two of the regular season, the Lancers proved themselves today against the number one team in the league.
Lancer's points leader Jenny MacKnight set the precedent of the game just 14 seconds into the action when she put the puck past Kelly Campbell to give the blue and yellow an immediate one point advantage over the Mustangs.
Despite the Mustangs attempts to respond to the Lancer's early lead, the purple and white were unable to cut the advantage as the blue and yellow's strong offensive unit outshot the Mustangs 12-7 throughout the period.
Midway through the first frame the Lancers found the back of Campbell's net for a second time as Shailyn Waites notched her sixth goal of the season to extend the lead 2-0.
The Mustangs came onto the ice in the second period determined to put themselves onto the scoreboard, and although the purple and white fired off 13 shots on Lancer's goaltender Marissa Kozovski, they were unable to capitalize on their opportunities, leaving the score untouched heading into the second intermission.
In the final frame the Mustangs continued to pressure the Lancers outshooting the home team 7-4 but the purple and white were unable to put the puck past Kozovski.
Despite only getting off four shots on Campbell in the third, the Lancers added two insurance markers late in the game with the Mustangs net empty with Erinn Noseworthy and Candice Chevalier providing the offence at 17:41 and 19:48 respectively to finalize the score at 4-0.
The Mustangs will be back in action on Saturday, January 24 as they travel to Toronto to take on the York Lions at 2 p.m.
