TORONTO – Western forward Lyndsay Kirkham registered her second hat trick of the season as the Mustangs women's hockey team defeated the Ryerson Rams 6-3 on Saturday afternoon at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

The six goals scored by the purple and white tied a season high and ended a four game streak in which they scored two goals or fewer. The win moves the Mustangs above .500 for the season with a 3-1-3 record (11 points), placing them sixth in the OUA standings.

Kirkham gave the Mustangs the lead midway through the first period on a goal that turned out to be the only even strength goal of the game. Defenceman Anthea Lasis extended the lead to two with a power play goal late in the period. Getting the nod in goal after rookie Shelby Ryan played in back-to-back games last weekend, goalkeeper Katie Jacobs stopped all 10 shots she faced in the first frame.

Western and Ryerson exchanged multiple power play goals in the second period, starting with Kryshanda Green's first of two goals of the afternoon, which got Ryerson on the scoreboard. Ali Beres scored her first goal of the season to restore the Mustangs' two-goal lead, but the Rams kept pace on the strength of Green's second goal of the period.

???????Kirkham closed out the scoring in the period with her second goal of the afternoon, also on the power play, as the Mustangs ended the period how it began – with a two-goal lead.

Despite over 20 shots being fired on goal combined between the teams in the third, it took over 15 minutes for another goal to be scored. Rams defenceman Alex Rodriguez scored her first goal of the season and her team's third power play goal of the afternoon to pull her team to within striking distance with under five minutes remaining.

That's as close as Ryerson would get, as the Mustangs put the game out of reach with two empty-net goals in the final minute. Those were highlighted by Kirkham's third goal to punctuate a four-point performance.

Green and Kirkham are now tied for first in the OUA in points after their impressive performances, with Kirkham also leading in goals with seven.

The Mustangs will be back on the ice tomorrow, November 6 at 3 p.m. as they look to put forth a similar performance against the Toronto Varsity Blues at Varsity Arena.