London, ON—A trio of Mustangs defenders secured Western's 3-1 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena.
"Yesterday's loss was pretty frustrating, I thought we outplayed Guelph and we out-chanced them throughout the game, and we just ran into a hot goaltender," said Mustangs' head coach Candice Moxley. "So today, our focus was on again getting to the net and working hard for our goals, but also understanding the fact that we can't rely on one line to be that point production line for us—that it has to spread out and that we have to score by committee. The girls proved that tonight, which was great."
Western's offence was provided by Edie Levesque, Anthea Lasis, and Beatrice Dufour. Laurier's goal was scored by Carly AuCoin.
It was the Mustangs' first time facing last year's head coach Kelly Paton.
"It was definitely bittersweet," said Dufour. "I feel like I'm always in front of her, playing for her, and to be against her—you want to have good sportsmanship and, you know, respect her because I have played for her for many years—but at the same time you want to show her…that we are a good team with our new coach. Just to beat them was a great feeling."
The Mustangs and the Golden Hawks were even-matched in the first frame, and goaltenders Tareya Webster and Cohen Myers both made six saves.
In the second period, Laurier maintained a strong penalty kill; Western struggled to keep the puck in the offensive zone while on the power play. However, Laurier still wasn't able to get to the net eight minutes in.
With 11 minutes left, the teams were playing four-on-four hockey. Renae Nevills skated through the top of the circles, and her shot tipped of off Levesque and over Myers' shoulder. It was Levesque's first OUA goal.
"We had an odd man rush, so it was actually a four-on-three for us," said Levesque. "And my D-partner, Renae Nevills, shot it, and then I was just in front of the net and it hit me and went in."
The Golden Hawks bounced back with two minutes to go in the second. Webster got a piece of AuCoin's low shot, but she wasn't able to fully stop it.
Four minutes into the final frame, Lasis received a pass from April Clark and made a hard, clean shot to the back of the net to break the tie.
"Alyssa Chiarello made a nice pick so that I could get by," said Lasis. "Then I just took a shot from the blue line."
With six minutes left in the game, Dufour marked the Mustangs' insurance marker. While on the power play, she also took a hard shot from the top of the circles to make it past Myers with help from teammate Brooke Dicicco.
"Honestly, I'm not too sure what happened," said Dufour. "I saw that no one was coming to cover me, so I just shot and aimed beside a shin pad so I wouldn't get blocked. Somehow it found a little hole and managed to get it."
With Western's win today, they sit at 5-1-0-0 and are tied for first. Laurier remains third last in the OUA with a record of 1-4-0-1.
"It's going to be great to focus on one competitor for next weekend," said coach Moxley. "It's easier preparation for us, so we're not prepping for two different teams and two different looks. We have one focus for that weekend, and it's one game, and so we don't have to take it easy or anything like that thinking that there's another game to be played."
The Mustangs are on the road next Saturday when they face the Waterloo Warriors at 2 pm. Fans can watch the action live at OUA.tv.
