With the winter break in the books, the Mustangs returned to practice this week and will look to add to their early season success when they face off with UOIT over the weekend.
 
The defending OUA and CIS champions battled back from a semi-slow start to rattle off five wins in their last six games. The purple and white split the last two games before the break, losing to Queens and beating Guelph—the number one team in the country at the time.
 
One of the stars of the first half has been goaltender Kelly Campbell. Campbell has started 12 of the 13 games for the Mustangs and has posted a .955 save percentage and 1.36 goals against average. She has been a steadying presence for Western in net.
 
The Mustangs are scoring 2.69 goals a game and are led by forward Kendra Broad who has 6 goals and 13 points. Forward April Clark has been a constant presence in taking away defenders space and time. Despite her dogged effort and forecheck, she only has two penalty minutes.
 
The defense pairing of Katelyn Gosling and Brianna Iazzolino had been the dynamic top pairing for the Mustangs, but head coach David Barrett split the duo up in the victory against Guelph. It will be interesting to see if that winning formula continues.
 
Western vs. UOIT – Sunday, January 10 at 4 p.m.– Watch live on OUA.tv 
 
The Ridgebacks are 4-8 on the season and lost five of their last six games going into the break. The previous meeting between these two teams this year resulted in a 6-2 win for the Mustangs.
 
The Ridgebacks are led in scoring by fowrard Chelsea Ball who has two goals and seven points. However, Ball only has two assists in her last six games.
 
Goaltenders Tori Campbell and Cassie Charette have split the duties between the pipes for the Ridgebacks. Campbell has taken seven starts for UOIT, while Charette has taken three. They have replaced each other in one game apiece. They share a .893 save percentage and 3.10 goals against average.
 
With playoff position within sight, UOIT will no doubt come out flying the second half and try to take points from any game they can.