LONDON, Ont. – Voyageur Jessica Davis' first career OUA goal proved to be a game winner, scoring early in the third period to give Laurentian a 2-1 victory over the Mustangs on Sunday afternoon in Alumni Hall.
 
"They had a high level of compete today. I think they challenged our team physically and just stayed mentally engaged throughout the game," said Mustangs' head coach Kelly Paton. "And, you know for us, I think it was a bit disappointing in term of our effort, and that's something that we're going to look to improve this week in practice. But, I think just overall structure in terms of completion of passes and capitalizing on the opportunities of big moments, that's something that could've helped us today."
 
Western remains third in the OUA with their first loss of the new year, as the Mustangs now sit at 9-2-4-2. Laurentian is currently riding a four-game winning streak, holding a 7-1-5-3 record and sitting in seventh place in the OUA.
 
Shailyn Waites' third goal of the season tied the score in the second period and was the only Mustang goal of the game, while Western goalie Carmen Lasis turned away 19 shots on the day.
 
Laurentian was led offensively by Davis and Ellery Veerman. Veerman is the Voyageurs second leading scorer, notching her fifth goal of the season against the purple and white. Davis' goal marked the first of her career in just her fourth game with the Voyageurs.
 
The majority of the first period went without penalties, goals, and very few whistles. The teams were left to play and demonstrated their even strength, charging end-to-end.
 
With three minutes left in the first frame, Veerman pushed the puck past Lasis, allowing the Voyageurs to take the early lead.
 
"We worked pretty hard, and I think we did a good job keeping the puck down low in their end, but we just need to work on getting more opportunities from keeping the puck down low," said captain Emma Pearson. "So I think just getting the puck to the net more often and definitely getting our shots through more we need to work on, and that'll help us be successful."
 
Western was limited to three shots while holding Laurentian to two in the first seven minutes of the second period. However, the offensive pace picked from there, and by the end of the frame the Mustangs had outshot the Voyageurs 12-4.
 
The Laurentian lead wore on until 11 minutes into the second period, where Western's shooting paid off. Waites stole the puck behind the net and managed to squeeze it through Shanna Dolighan's pads, tying the score up with an unassisted goal.
 
Nine minutes into the final frame, Laurentian retook the lead, as Davis scored her first of the season, unassisted.
 
Davis' goal would be the final one of the contest, with Laurentian taking a 2-1 win over the Mustangs.
 
"Our mentality there was just to try and push and try and get as many pucks to net as possible and to just, honestly, try and get a second gear there and try and get a goal," said Pearson of the team's effort to tie the game up late in the third.
 
The Mustangs will head on the road next weekend, facing UOIT next Saturday at 3:30 pm in Oshawa, followed by a showdown with the Queen's Gaels on Sunday in Kingston. Fans can catch the action live on OUA.tv.
 
"We're going up against UOIT and Queen's next and we know Queen's is at the top of our league right now. They've had a lot of success early on in the season, so for us it's just sticking to our structure and trusting the process in terms of our team development," said Paton, looking forward to next weekend. "So, this week we'll probably focus more on some forecheck principles and trying to really create offence by using a five-man unit in the offensive zone, and then obviously try to refine our special teams as well."