NORTH BAY, Ont. – A three goal second period helped lead the Nipissing Lakers over the Western Mustangs by a 4-2 score on Wednesday night in the first game of their OUA Semi-Final series.
 
Mustangs forward Evra Levesque continued her torrid playoff scoring pace as she recorded a goal and an assist in the loss and now has five points in three playoff games. Brittany Clapham provided the rest of the Western offence, opening the scoring for the purple and white in the second period.
 
Nipissing opened the scoring only 3:45 into the game as forward Brooklyn Irwin took a pass from linemate Jade Gauthier and beat Campbell to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Nipissing held their one goal lead going into the second. 
 
The Mustangs, however, gave up another quick goal to open the second. This time is was Kaley Tienhaara to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. Nipissing extended that lead to 3-0 midway through the frame with a power play marker from Taylor Murphy.
 
Clapham responded for Western with three minutes left in the period, putting the Mustangs on the board with Katelyn Gosling and Levesque providing the assists.
 
Unfortunately for the visitors, the Lakers struck back only a minute and 20 seconds later off of an unassisted goal from Gauthier to give them a 4-1 lead heading into the third period.
 
Levesque scored her third goal of the playoffs five minutes into the third but it wasn't enough to spark a Mustangs comeback, as the Lakers claimed a 4-2 win.
 
The best-of-three series now returns to the friendly confines of Thompson Arena for Game Two on Saturday afternoon. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. and fans can watch the action live on OUA.tv