LONDON, Ont. – A pair of power play goals helped the Western Mustangs women's hockey team pick up a 3-1 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks in game one of the OUA Semi-Final series on Wednesday night at Thompson Arena.

"I thought we [played] opportunistic," said Mustangs head coach Chris Higgins. "We played a pretty good D-zone coverage [and in] the third period I thought we played very well, but they had some chances."

With the win, Western's third consecutive playoff victory, the Mustangs hold a 1-0 lead in the best of three series, and can clinch the series with a win on Friday night in Waterloo.

"It's huge [to get the win tonight]. All of the pressure is on them now. We actually play better [at Sun Life Financial Arena] then we do here. If you look back I think we've won our last four [regular season] games there and they've won their last three here. I was nervous about tonight. I'm less worried about Friday because we play well in that arena," said Higgins.

Western's two power play markers came off the sticks of Sydney Kidd and Brittany Clapham in the second and third period's respectively. Kidd's goal, her second of the post-season, tied the game for the Mustangs, while Clapham's tally, also her second of the playoffs, provided some insurance early in the third.

Another essential contributor to Wednesday night's victory was first-year defenseman Anthea Lasis. Lasis made her OUA scoresheet debut against the Golden Hawks in week four of regular season action with an assist on the 3-2 win, so it seems only natural that the Toronto, Ont., native's highest scoring game would come against the same team, as she recorded three assists in Wednesday night's win.

Although the scoreboard would prove to be in their favour by the night's end, the Mustangs were slow to start in the opening frame, and instead of goals the scoreboard was overrun with penalties as both teams found themselves in the box for more than half of the period.

"The first period was weird with all of the penalties. There was about five minutes of five-on-five hockey and I don't think either team really got going in that period," said Higgins.

While the Mustangs took their fair share of penalties over the course of the period the Golden Hawks seemed to serve theirs in bulk as they found themselves with four players in the penalty box at the same time midway through the period which gave the Mustangs a short five on three advantage.

Despite being down two players, Golden Hawks goaltender Amanda Smith stood strong between the pipes to keep the Mustangs from capitalizing on the power play.

In the second period the game became less about the contact and more about puck control as both teams came out from the intermission determined to put their strength into their sticks. The Golden Hawks won the race to the scoreboard as Dollee Meigs put the puck past Mustang netminder Kelly Campbell to give the visiting team the 1-0 advantage just over three minutes into the period.

The purple and white responded and cut the Golden Hawks lead a little over six minutes later when Kidd netted the first Western goal on a Mustang power play to even out the score 1-1.

The Mustangs continued their upward momentum throughout the period as they peppered Smith with eleven shots. Similarly, the Golden Hawks countered with a strong offensive attack themselves firing off eleven shots on Campbell.

While both teams made use of their strong offensive units, the Mustangs had one advantage – one of the best goaltenders in the OUA. While Campbell held the purple and white goal line firm, Smith was unable to keep the Mustangs from finding the net when Stacey Scott found the back of the Golden Hawk's net with 2:55 left before the break.

Despite the one-goal lead the Mustangs knew that just one goal for the Golden Hawks could jeopardize a purple and white victory. An even scoreboard is certainly not the score you want to be dealing with against Laurier, especially after the Golden Hawks began their OUA Quarterfinal sweep over Queen's with three overtime periods and a total of 94 minutes on the ice in game one.

With that in mind, the Mustangs worked hard to keep their opponents from recovering from the one goal deficit, and they were successful in their efforts as Campbell kept the visiting team from the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.

With Campbell protecting the Mustang net Brittney Clapham extended the purple and white lead when she capitalized on a Mustangs power play to put the home team up 3-1, a lead they'd hold until the final buzzer.

The Mustangs and the Golden Hawks will face-off in game two of their series on Friday, February 27 in Waterloo at Sun Life Financial Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., and can be watched live on OUA.tv, or fans can listen on CHRW Radio.