LONDON, Ont. - A late third period, game-tying goal from Brianna Iazzolino gave the Mustangs the boost they needed to stay in the game and walk away with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Ryerson Rams on Saturday night at Thompson Arena.
"I give [Ryerson] a lot of credit," said Mustangs head coach Chris Higgins post-game. "[They] play very good defensively and they know how to get the puck out of their own zone. It wasn't our best game but good teams find ways to win when you're not at your best and we found a way to win tonight."
With the win the Mustangs maintain their hold atop the OUA standings with a 16-1-3 record, while the loss for the Rams gives the team a 10-9-1 record on the season.
The Rams may be in the bottom half of the standings but they proved that they could compete with the league's top team, as they shared equal scoring opportunities in the first period of the play.
With a scoreless first period both teams came out into the second frame determined to take the upperhand, however Mustang Kelly Campbell shut down all of Ryerson's attempts to do so as she blocked 13 shots fired off by the Rams. Similarly, Ryerson's Alex Armstrong held the goal line strong for the Rams as she stopped 11 Mustangs shots throughout the period.
The intensity picked up in the third period as both teams battled for possession of the puck but it was the Ram's duo of Blair Malthaner and Melissa Wronzberg that put the visiting team on the scoreboard first as Malthaner picked up the puck just outside of the Mustang's blue line to bring it all the way in and around Campbell's net to connect with Wronzberg, who netted the fist goal of the game for the Rams.
The Mustangs responded to the Ram's one-point advantage six minutes later as Iazzolino put the puck past Armstrong to even out the score and send the match into overtime.
With a scoreless overtime period the contest went into a shootout. After Campbell saved the first shot taken by the Ram's, Kendra Broad opened the scoring for Western, putting the puck right between Armstrong's pads to give the Mustangs the advantage.
The Ram's second shooter, Sarah McGilvray found the back of Campbell's net, while Ally Beres was stropped by Armstrong in Western's second attempt.
With Campbell blocking the Ram's third shooter, Clare Sabine, the fate of the game rested on Western's Stacey Scott. Despite the pressure, Scott took the puck in deep and found the back of the net to secure the 2-1 victory for the purple and white.
The Mustangs will be back in action on Saturday, February 7 as they travel to Guelph to take on the Gryphons at 2:00 p.m.
