LONDON, Ont. --The Western Mustangs secured a 2-1 win over the Nipissing Lakers with a third period comeback Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena.
"We knew that they were going to be a skilled team," said Mustangs' head coach Candice Moxley. "They were going to be a tough team to beat, so we had to be ready for it physically and mentally."
Western's top two scorers, April Clark and Alyssa Chiarello, provided the Mustangs' offence, marking their 17th and 5th goals of the season.
Sam Strassburger netted Nipissing's lone goal of the game.
Western and Nipissing were in a tight contest, as they were one point apart in the standings. Both teams limited the others' shots, and neither could make it past the goaltenders in the first frame. The Mustangs led the period for shots with six compared to the Lakers' four, and Nipissing only tallied their first halfway through the period.
They each played a strong penalty kill; Western consistently cleared the zone and did not allow a single Laker shot, and Nipissing reduced Mustang opportunities, firing the puck down the ice multiple times.
Two minutes into the second frame, Anthea Lasis gave up the puck in the Mustangs' defensive zone to Jade Gauthier. She skated in to the net and fed the puck to Strassburger who was waiting at the back door to fire it past Carmen Lasis.
Nipissing controlled play in the first quarter of the second period; they tallied five shots to the Mustangs' zero. By the 10-minute mark, Western picked up the pace and began firing pucks to close the shot gap to 8-7 for the Lakers.
With four minutes left in the second, Evra Levesque blazed down the ice, passing Nipissing's defence. She took on the goalie but fumbled the puck in front of the net and lost her scoring opportunity.
One minute into the final frame, Clark rushed into the zone and shot the puck bar down to tie the score up.
"I kind of anticipated the D turnover," said Clark. "The D gave it right to me, so I just walked through. I was patient, and she stood up to block the shot, and it just went right by her."
The Mustangs set up in the offensive zone for a late game power play. Edie Levesque passed to Shailyn Waites, who fed it to Chiarello in the slot. She fired the puck into the net to break the tie with four minutes left in the third period.
"My teammate Shai, she got the puck, and she saw me in the middle of the ice and passed it to me," said Chiarello. "We've been working on that play all week during practice, so it was nice to see it pay off."
Western sits at 10-2-0-4 with the win. The Mustangs moved from third place to a tie for first with Guelph, rising above Nipissing in the standings.
The Lakers trail Western by two points with a record of 7-4-5-1.
After four games at home, the Mustangs are on the road for the next two weekends.
"It's been a while since we've been on the road, let alone overnight," said Moxley. "So it's going to be interesting. It's another opportunity for our team to bond and have us all together in one place which will be nice, but we're looking forward to being on the road."
Western will face Queens in Kingston Friday at 7:30pm. Catch the action live at OUA.tv
