LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs started 2017 on a positive note, scoring four goals in the opening 20 minutes to defeat the Ryerson Rams 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Arena.

"I think [the team] was very motivated," said Mustangs assistant coach Blair Webster. "We had a good week of practice this week, they've been off since that last game against Windsor, and we just pushed the pace in practice this week and focused on coming out with a strong first period. Obviously, a 4-0 lead after one, you couldn't have scripted it any better."  

The win moves the purple and white into a tie for fourth place in the OUA standings with Queen's, who have a game in hand. The battle for positioning in the standings remains fierce as Western has only six more points than the Rams, who are in eleventh place.

Western came out in the first period with a strong sense of urgency after suffering an 8-1 defeat to Windsor in their last game of 2016. "The game against Windsor wasn't our greatest effort and wasn't our best way to end [the first half of the season]," said Mustangs forward April Clark about the motivation the team had to bounce back. "But, we said we needed to regroup and pick it up, and we worked hard over the break. We wanted to start off with a good game, so that's what we did."

Despite not many shots being fired by either team in the opening period, 7-4 for Western by the end of the frame, Western managed to score four times and take a commanding lead into the intermission.

Clark scored on the first shot of the game for the Mustangs, and freshman forward Shana Alexander added another goal less than three minutes later on the third shot registered by the team. The other two goals were scored by Lyndsay Kirkham and Alyssa Chiarello, with Kirkham scoring on a breakaway after receiving a breakout pass from Alexander, while Chiarello's marker came on the power play.

The other two periods couldn't match the fast start set in the opening 20 minutes, with no goals being scored and only one penalty being committed. The Mustangs played disciplined hockey, committing no penalties in the entirety of the game, and got a great performance from starting goaltender Katie Jacobs, who recorded her first shutout of the season.

The starting forward line of Clark, Alexander and Kirkham were the contributors on the team's first three goals, combining for six points. "Some of our faster skaters on the team are on that line," said Webster about the line combination. "They just used their speed to take the puck to the net and pucks went in."

Western won't have long to celebrate their win as the team takes to the ice at Thompson Arena tomorrow, January 8, at 4 p.m. to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues, who shut them out 2-0 in their last meeting in Toronto.

"We want to keep pushing forward." Clark shared about the team mentality heading into tomorrow's game, "We got a lot of momentum out of this game and hopefully we can come out with the win."