LONDON, Ont. – Back-to-back second period goals from Catherine O'Connor  lifted the Western Mustangs to a 3-1 win over the Ryerson Rams on Saturday night at Thompson Arena.
 
"We talked about some principles before the game, mostly around compete level and battle situations and puck situations, and I think the girls did a good job coming out with those principles in mind," said Mustangs head coach Kelly Paton. "I think we got rewarded early for it, kind of building on the momentum of the first period. Got a couple early and then they got back in the game with one, but our ability to close games right now is fairly high. We've got a lot of success around empty net goals as well too so that's helped."
 
O'Connor just missed out on the hat trick, scoring her first two goals of the season a little more than six minutes apart in the second period to put the Mustangs in front for good. Amanda Pereira provided the insurance marker for the purple and white, scoring an empty net goal in the final minute.
 
One of the keys to the win was the Mustangs penalty kill, as the special teams unit consistenly limted shots on net and applying pressure to keep the Rams scoreless on their five power play opportunities.
 
The Mustangs came out of the gate strong on Saturday night with crisp passing and good defensive coverage, however those efforts wouldn't result in a goal in the first 20 minutes. Western's defence did stymie the Rams offence in the early going as they didn't record their first shot on net until the 11 minute mark. A combination of tight defence and persistent offence gave Lasis a break, as she only needed to make five saves in the opening frame.
 
O'Connor's first marker of the night came eight minutes into the second period when she converted an excellent pass from Jessie Sanghe and fired the puck over goaltender Rachel Seely's shoulder and into the back of the net to put the Mustangs on the board.
 
With five minutes of the period left, O'Connor scored her second goal of the night off a pass from Edie Levesque Levesque to make it 2-0 for Western.
 
"It was pretty exciting for me," O'Connor said of scoring her first two goals of the season. "I had a lot of energy that game, and my linemates played really well and made some nice plays, so it was really nice to get those two goals and get my confidence up."
 
Two minutes later, Ryerson got on the board just before the end of the period on a breakaway goal from Madison Lalonde.
 
Neither team was able to solve the other in the final 20 minutes before Pereira iced the game with an empty net goal in the final minute to claim a 3-1 win for the Mustangs.
 
The Rams won't have to wait long to try and avenge Saturday's loss as the two teams will square off again next Saturday night in Toronto.
 
"It's good and bad seeing a team within a week, so we can make the necessary adjustments that we've seen from tonight, and rink size there is big, so they might change some of their strategy in certain systems or special team game," said coach Patton. "For us we just want to keep generating pucks to the net, getting traffic in front, and then playing a good defensive game."
 
Before that the Mustangs will take to the ice at Thompson Arena once again as they face the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday, November 4. Fans can catch all the action live at 7 p.m. on OUA.tv