LONDON, Ont. – A third period goal from Louie Bieman lifted the Toronto Varsity Blues to a 2-1 win over the Western Mustangs on Friday night at Thompson Arena.
The loss brings the Mustangs to 3-0-1-1 on the year, while Toronto remains undefeated with a 4-0-0-0 record.
After starting off the year with a number of high scoring contests, Western's scored only four goals over the past three games, something that head coach
Kelly Paton talked about following Friday's loss.
"I think we've been in a little bit of a funk the last probably two or three games, where we haven't seen that same output of scoring offensively, so you know, for us it's just focusing around the net and having a little bit more incentive with finishing puck," said Paton. "So, if we can start to do that, and that starts in practice, just good habits, and you know hopefully it will transfer over into our games."
Shana Alexander provided Western's only goal of the game, scoring her first marker of the season a little past the midway point of the opening period. Toronto's offence came from two different scorers, as Bieman and Adrianna Noble provided the goals for the visiting side.
The Varsity Blues scored the first goal of the night ten minutes into play during a penalty-heavy first period. Western's inability to clear the puck during their penalty kill allowed Noble to score with 10 seconds left in the power play.
The Mustangs didn't let the goal keep them down for long, as Alexander tied the game with a shorthanded goal just over three minutes later.
"We got the puck out, and I think it was Evra [Levesque] who dumped it in, and then their goalie got it, and I was pressuring hard, and she just got confused and went to rim it around behind the net, and it went in their net. So it was a bonus for us," Alexander said of the goal.
Twenty minutes of back-and-forth play showcased Mustang goaltender
Carmen Lasis' and Varsity Blue goalie Madeline Albert's skills, as they effectively shut out both teams in the second period.
Two minutes into the final period, Bieman broke the deadlock. Bieman's goal proved to be the final one of the night, with the Varsity Blues taking a 2-1 win.
"We just need to learn from our game so far and learn from our mistakes and just keep playing as hard as we can and play a full 60 minutes because I think that's where we're losing games here," said captain Emma Pearson. "We're just losing our focus, and we're not playing the full time, and then they're getting us on those, and we're not able to score and make up for it."
Western will be back in action tomorrow night whenthe Mustangs will take on Ryerson at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at 7:15 p.m., hoping to repeat their 3-1 win from last weekend. Fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv.
