London, ON —The Western Mustangs lost to the Brock Badgers 4-3 in a shootout Friday night at Thompson arena.
 
"I thought that game stung a bit," said Mustangs head coach Candice Moxley. "I thought we outplayed them, we out-chanced them, and it was a game that I thought we deserved a better fate. But when it comes down to it…it's a 60-minute game, and we need to get it done in 60 minutes, and we weren't able to do that."
 
It was a special night at Thompson arena, as Eddy Lefrancois came to centre ice for the puck drop. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's in 1992 and was only expected to live until 1997, the year his nieces, Evra and Edie Levesque were born. Edie was named after him, and she helped wheel him to the centre ice red carpet to drop the puck for Evra and Brock's captain Brenna Murphy.
 
"It was really special, he means a lot to us," said Evra. "He tries to come out every year at least for a game with my parents, so it was really special to have him out there."
 
April Clark's two goals secured her tie for the first in the OUA with a total of eight. Beatrice Dufour netted her second of the season.
 
Brock's offence was provided by the Badgers' leading scorers; Annie Berg with her fourth of the season, and Cassidy Maplethorpe with her third; and Makyla Porter who netted her first OUA goal. The shootout scorers were Maplethorpe and Amanda Ieradi.
 
Clark marked Western's first goal three minutes into the first frame on the Mustangs' second shot of the night. Assisted by Hannah Irwin and Renae Nevills, she passed the puck in through chaos at the net.
 
Both teams killed five penalties over the course of six minutes in the bottom half of the period. With three minutes left, Shailyn Waites fed the puck to Dufour, whose slap shot hit bar down. Western ended the period with 12 shots to Brock's five.
 
The Badgers came back with a vengeance and scored twice in the second period to tie it back up. Eight minutes in, Berg fired the puck from the top of the circles and it passed through Western's defence and goaltender Tareya Webster on the ice.
 
Two minutes later on the power play, Webster fell down on the right while Maplethorpe wrapped around the to the left side and put in the opening.
 
The Mustangs kept the game in the Badgers' end for the first three minutes of the third period, but Brock goalie Jensen Murphy kept them in the game.
 
"This is our barn, so obviously we wanted to dominate that period, which I think we did," said Evra. "So, they got a lucky bounce on the power play, but I think we probably gave them a good game in the third period."
 
The Badgers scored another power play goal six minutes into the period, increasing their season tally to ten, good for first in the OUA. Porter's wrist shot whistled through both teams from her perch between the circles.
 
The Mustangs secured a full minute of a five on three advantage two minutes after the goal. Murphy fell down on her right side, and Clark shot Renae Nevills' pass into the wide open net.
 
"I just found myself open in front of the net," said Clark.  "Nevills' pick checked in the corner and just called for it, and I put it in the empty net. I'm not sure where the goalie was, but she wasn't in the net."
 
Neither team scored again in the third, so play moved to three on three sudden death overtime. Although Anthea Lasis received a penalty for too many men and Brock had a four on three for two minutes, both teams limited shots to one, and the game progressed to a shootout.
 
Alyssa Chiarello and Clark were the Mustangs' shooters, but both shots were saved by goaltending star Murphy. Maplethorpe and Ieradi got past Webster to secure their team's 4-3 win.
 
After the second loss in a row to Brock, Western sits at 6-2-0-2 and is in fourth place. The Badgers are tailing the Mustangs in fifth with a record of 4-1-2-2.
 
"You know what, we've got to play a full 60 minutes," said Moxley. "Now it's a recovery piece, it's making sure that we're taking care of our bodies and getting ready so we have legs to use our speed and be tenacious all over the ice tomorrow."
 
The Mustangs face the Ryerson Rams tomorrow in Toronto at 4:15pm. Fans can catch the action live at OUA.tv