LONDON, Ont. – For the second straight day a three-goal second period led the Western Mustangs to a win, defeating the visiting York Lions by a score of 5-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Thompson Arena.

The win ends a successful weekend for the purple in white. They snapped a three-game losing streak the day prior by defeating UOIT 5-2 in Oshawa and now move into a tie with Laurentian for fourth in the OUA with a 5-1-5-1 record.

Despite being outshot 7-5 in the opening period, it was the Mustangs that threatened to score the first goal of the game. The Lions committed four penalties which gave Western almost seven full minutes of power play time, including a stretch where they held the skater advantage for five of eight minutes to close out the frame, but the game remained scoreless.

Katie Jacobs, getting the start in net for the Mustangs after playing the second and third periods on Saturday, stopped all five shots she faced to keep the game scoreless as the first period ended with neither team finding the back of the net. 

After neither team managed to challenge the opponent's goalkeeper with a shot on target for over four minutes, it appeared the second period would be a defensive affair much like the opening frame. That changed at the seven-minute mark when forward Amanda Pereira fired a seemingly innocent shot that got past the Lions goalkeeper and into the net for Pereira's third goal of the season.

"It was a huge shift in momentum for us," said Pereira about the goal. "It was kind of a lucky bounce and that's what we needed to get us going in the right direction."

Veteran forward and OUA-leading goal scorer Lyndsay Kirkham tipped the momentum further in the Mustangs favour by splitting the defence and putting away a breakaway goal less than a minute later.

The Lions tallied their first goal of the game shorthanded when team captain Amy Locke put away the rebound of sister Erin's initial breakaway effort to reduce the deficit to one. On the same power play in which they conceded the goal, rookie forward Alyssa Chiarello put away a loose puck in front of the net for her fifth goal of the campaign to restore the two-goal lead.

York put forth a strong effort in the third period by outshooting the Mustangs 12-9, but Jacobs and company shut the door on the Lions to win their second consecutive game. Western successfully defended two power play opportunities for the Lions to hold them 0-4 with the skater advantage for the game, marking the fourth consecutive game they haven't allowed a power play goal.

"We didn't get off to a great start the first eight games of the year on our penalty kill," said Mustangs assistant coach Blair Webster about the team's recent success on special teams. "We've focused a little bit more on special teams the last couple of weeks at practice and I think on both the penalty kill and power play we've been successful."

Kirkham effectively secured the victory for Western by scoring two empty net goals, resulting in her third hat-trick of the season and extending her OUA-leading goal total to 11.

The Mustangs will look to build on their efforts over the weekend when they travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors on Saturday, November 26, at 2:30 p.m. at the Columbia Ice Field. Fans can tune in to all the action live on OUA.tv