London, ON- Mustangs took on Ontario Tech for an afternoon game today, but couldn't come back from the Ridgeback's quick 2-0 lead. Mustang's had a dominant second and third period, but were only able to get one on Ontario Tech's Brooke Vial, losing 2-1.
The Ridgeback's had a strong start, coming out hard in the beginning of the first, and found success just 5 minutes in, with Mackenzie Krasowski getting on the board. The first period saw lots of special team action, with each team heading to the box twice.
Western's Emma Thomas took a delay of game penalty with less than 3 minutes remaining to give Ontario Tech their second powerplay of the period. The Ridgeback's were able to capitalize on the powerplay with Kayla Welk scoring to put Ontario Tech up 2-0 with just 2:15 left to go in the first. Even though Western led the shot count 15 to 8, Ontario Tech was up 2-0 at the end of the first.
The Mustang's came out really strong at the beginning of the second, dominating the play in Ridgeback's end. Western was generating lots of chances and controlled majority of the play, but wasn't able to capitalize.
11 minutes into the second period, Grace Bellamy took a shot on net and it deflected back out to the point. Defenceman Gabrielle Lehoux stepped in and shot it towards the net, deflecting in, making it a 1 goal game.
Sole goal scorer Lehoux said "I just wanted to get it to the net, getting it to the net creates chances and we needed to score."
The third period consisted of many Western chances, but the Mustang's were unable to get it past goaltender Brooke Vial. Western saw success with their penalty killing skills, killing off a 4 minute penalty halfway through the third to stay in the game.
As a last resort, Western pulled the goalie with just over two minutes remaining but couldn't get the job done even with an extra attacker. Ontario Tech was able to hold off the Mustang's and win 2-1 on the road. The final shots were 36-28 in favour of Western.
When asked about the loss Lehoux noted "I thought everyone battled hard, next game we're going to have to get more pucks to the net and bury them when we have a chance. We need to capitalize on our chances."
"I thought we played a really solid game for about 55 minutes, we took a lapse and let Ontario Tech get ahead, and were trying to battle back after that. Our energy and compete were there, just couldn't get the finish." said Head coach Candice Moxley.
Western will face the York Lions next Friday the 28th for their first road game of the season. Puck-drop is at 7:15 pm in Toronto and can be watched on OUA.tv.
