LONDON, Ont. – Goals from Brianna Iazzolino, Sydney Kidd, and Brittany Clapham provided the offence, while Kelly Campbell turned aside all but one of the shots she faced as the CIS No. 3 Western Mustangs defeated the No. 5 Queen's Gaels 4-1 on Friday night at Thompson Arena.
 
"The first period we weren't very good [but] as soon as we got through that first period we [were] a different team and the second and the third periods were the best we've played all year," said Mustangs head coach Chris Higgins.
 
With the win the Mustangs, who clinched first place in the OUA standings last week, improve their record to 19-1-3 and extend their winning streak to four games. The loss for the Gaels gives them a 15-5-3 mark, good for fourth place in the OUA.
 
The Gaels came out into the opening period strong and left the Mustangs playing catch-up as the tricolour got on the scoreboard first when Addi Halladay found the back of the net just under six minutes in.
 
The Mustangs fought hard to respond to the Gaels one-goal lead but the visitors high-powered offence controlled the play in the opening frame, outshooting the Mustangs 14-5. Despite the shot discrepancy, the purple and white made use of the scoring opportunities that they did have when Western's Iazzolino put the puck past Gaels netminder Caitlyn Lahonen to even out the score with just two and a half minutes left in the period.
 
The Mustangs came back out onto the ice in the second period looking like an entirely different team as they dominated the play, keeping possession of the puck deep in Gaels territory for a large part of the frame. The purple and white offensive unit kept Lahonen busy between the pipes with seventeen shots while the Gaels responded with only two shots on Campbell throughout the period.
 
Lahonen was impressive throughout the period, however despite her best efforts, Sydney Kidd netted a goal late in the period to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
 
In the final frame the Mustangs continued to battle for control of the play while the Gaels were determined to even out the scoreboard. Much to the delight of the Western faithful in attendance, it was Mustangs who continued to post points on the board as Clapham picked up the rebound off of Kidd's shot and fired a wrist shot into the top left corner of Lahonen's net to extend the Mustangs lead 3-1 with just under three minutes left in the contest.
 
Trailing by two goals and time running out, the Gaels pulled Lahonen for an extra attacker, however it was the Mustangs who would benefit as Clapham picked up the puck and brought it into the Queen's zone before depositing it into the empty net to seal a 4-1 victory for Western.
 
The Mustangs will close out the regular season on Saturday, February 14, when they take on the UOIT Ridgebacks and honour graduating players as part of the team's annual Senior Day celebration. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv.