Toronto, Ont—Four Mustangs scored Saturday afternoon to defeat the U of T Varsity Blues 5-3 at Varsity Arena.
Renae Nevills, April Clark, Alyssa Chiarello, and Brooke Dicicco defeated Varsity Blue goalie Erica Fryer's perfect record. Clark scored twice in the first and her and Chiarello are now first in the OUA for goals scored.
U of T forward Taylor Trussler netted her first of the season in the first frame, and Kassie Roache and Lauren Straatman scored in the final period.
Defender Nevills was set up by Clark and Shailyn Waites to score her first goal of the season nine minutes into the first period.
Three minutes later, Clark put a loose puck in front of the net in the top corner with help from Chiarello and Waites. She got her second of the night three minutes after. Assisted by Chiarello and Edie Levesque, Clark's shot from the circle went straight through Fryer's five-hole.
The Varsity Blues outshot the Mustangs 14 to 8 in the first frame, but could only get one past goaltender Carmen Lasis. With three minutes left, Trussler's puck deflected into the net while on the power play, with help from teammates Stephanie Ayres and Mathilde De Serres.
In the second period, Western struggled to keep up with U of T's special teams. They had a perfect and aggressive penalty kill, consistently clearing the zone and dominating puck control. Their power plays offered several scoring opportunities, but Lasis managed to keep the Mustangs in the game.
The Varsity Blues came back out strong, and got back on the board one minute into the final frame. Lauren Straatman made a pass to Kassie Roache, who deked Lasis to put it behind her.
The Mustangs turned it around two minutes later when Chiarello received passes through the defence from Clark and Waites and hit the top corner, proving they were Western's deadliest line of the night.
Not even ten seconds went by before Western scored again. Fryer got taken out by her teammate, and Mustang Dicicco, with help from Emma Suitor and Evra Levesque, netted her first of the season.
With nine minutes of play left, U of T took advantage of their five on three. Straatmen tipped in a puck from Gabrielle De Serres, and the final goal of the night made the score 5-3 for Western.
Western remains undefeated in their regular season with a record of 3-0-0-0. They are tied for first in the OUA with 9 points.
U of T sits at 2-1-0-1 with the loss, tied for fifth place.
The Mustangs are back on home ice tomorrow afternoon when they face Windsor at 2:30 pm from Thompson Arena. Fans can tune in to OUA.tv to catch the action live.
