LONDON, Ont. —An empty net insurance marker from Western's Megan Taylor closed out the matchup with Laurier, elevating the purple and white score to 3-1 at Thompson Arena.
 
"We've talked about it a lot as a group that our league is very competitive, and, you know, we can't take any opponent for granted," said Mustangs head coach Kelly Paton. "And I think we've seen that, especially in the last, I'd say, last six games where we've faced teams that are beneath us in the standings, and it's something that we want to focus on. Just making sure our game's consistent so that we continue to get our chance to be successful."
 
The Mustangs now sit at 11-2-5-2, and today's win lifts them into a tie for first place with the Queen's Gales. Laurier remains in last with a 1-1-12-3 record.
 
Western scored three goals on Hannah Miller, who boasts the OUA's second highest save percentage of .951. Alyssa Chiarello netted the first of the day and her fifth of the season, while Ali Beres' second goal of the season allowed the Mustangs' to retake the lead. Taylor also scored her second of the season with just four seconds remaining on an empty net.
 
Danielle Wark got her first of the season and Laurier's lone goal.
 
The Mustangs fired three shots on Golden-Hawk goaltender Miller within the first minute of play. The flurry of shots and quick paced offense resulted in Chiarello netting the first of the game off a pass from Lindsey O'Neill. She flipped the puck up, and it hit off the crossbar, landing just past the goal line two minutes into the game.
 
"I got the puck down low, and I saw an opening in front of the net," said Chiarello. "So I thought I'd pull it up towards my body and just try and shoot and score."
 
Laurier tied it up on the first shot of the second frame, with Wark shot the puck through Carmen Lasis' five-hole 20 seconds after the whistle.
 
There was a shift in puck domination in the second period, and play between the Golden-Hawks and Mustangs was much more even.
 
Edie Levesque demonstrated Western's tenacious defence when she stopped a near breakaway on the power play by diving and hitting the puck away from Laurier.
 
"I think with [Laurier's] goal that they got at the beginning of the second period, I think that that kind of shifted our focus a bit," said Chiarello. "We got a little under pressure, I think, because it was a tied game, but we ended up coming back in the third period and got some great goals there."
Nine minutes into the final frame, Western retook the lead. Beres took a rapid-fire shot off of a pass from Amanda Pereira that went straight to the back of the net.
 
"We talk about entries a lot, in terms of wanting the puck on our stick as much as possible," said Paton. "And [Beres] was actually in a change situation, so she was late coming into the zone, and, you know, we were fortunate that the coverage kind of broke down, and that she was able to get open in the slot area. And then, obviously, she finished with a good shot."
 
Laurier pulled Miller in the last minute of play, and Western's assistant captain Taylor chased a long shot down the ice to score an empty netter with four seconds left in the game.
 
"Someone did an icing, and I went after it, and the girl in front of me wasn't really moving at first. I was like, 'Oh I should probably try and get there,'" said Taylor. "I just went as fast as I could and tried to chip it in. It was fun with all the crowd there, so it was a good goal to get at the end to seal the deal."
 
The game featured Western's impressive special teams, as they killed seven penalties and dominated six power plays, coming out on top with a 3-1 win.
 
"Our PK's doing really well, and they're really keeping us in the game," said Beres. "They performed well."
 
The Mustangs are able to rest before their next game, as they have a day off tomorrow.
 
"We don't see our schedule too often like this, where we play Friday-Sunday," said Paton. "But I think, yeah, a lot of [the players] have plans maybe to just take a little bit of a break, in terms of either going home or just take a step back, and then just shift our focus back to Sunday, you know, we have another tough opponent coming into our building."
 
Western will be on home ice again this Sunday when they face Windsor at 3 pm. Catch the action live at OUA.tv