London, ON – Adeline Kristoff netted a pair of goals as the Mustangs battled to pick up a 3-2 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday night.
"I think we saw some glimpses of what we can do against Guelph yesterday and played parts of the game very well and I thought tonight we started to put it together a lot more," said Mustangs Head Coach Candice Moxley "It's good to see our team get on the board and finish some goals on a lot of opportunities tonight which is good for us moving forward."
Kristoff, the second-year forward, had a goal late in the second period and added another early in the third, which held up as the eventual game-winner for the Mustangs.
"It's definitely exciting, we had some chances in the first period but in the second period we really took off with good chances and bounces going our way," said Kristoff "It was nice to put a couple on the board and a great way to start the home portion of the 2023 season."
Coming out of the holiday break, both teams got a bit of a slow start but Western picked up the action in the second period netting a pair of goals, the first coming from Elizabeth Gauthier on the powerplay and then Kristoff added her first of the game that got a piece of the Laurier goaltender but bounced through and in to extend the Western lead to 2-0.
"I was just trying to get into a good position there, tried to get to the middle and just shot it, I honestly wasn't expecting it to go in but was pretty excited when it did," said Kristoff
In the third period, Kristoff got the puck right at center ice and made a line for the Laurier net and fired a laser shot to the top right corner of the Laurier goal to put Western up 3-0.
"She put up a lot of points in her junior club and now it's all about finding a way to score at the next level now, we know she has it in her," said Moxley of Kristoff "Her ability to get those shots off quickly and put herself in good spots on the ice, I hope tonight was a confidence builder for her because we would like to see a lot more of that moving forward."
The Golden Hawks didn't go down quietly though, after the Mustangs took a pair of penalties after the midway point of the third, Laurier would capitalize on both powerplay chances cutting the Western lead to 3-2.
Laurier would make a late push to try and tie the game but Western Goaltender Kaitlyn Booth made a number of quality saves and the defence blocked some key shots to preserve the lead and take the win. Booth made 22 saves on the night.
After a rocky first half of the season, the Mustangs are hoping that a win like this will give them the push to try and get back into playoff contention with just over a month left in the regular season.
"We had a team meeting before the start of the second half and we all know it's a sprint to the finish and we have a lot of seniors in the room that are graduating this year and we want to end the season the way we want as opposed to not having control of that," said Moxley "We have a mission moving forward and I think we have the horses to do it."
The Mustangs next game is next Saturday (Jan. 14) as the Windsor Lancers come to Thompson Arena. Puck drop is set for 3:00pm, Fans can buy their tickets at WesternMustangs.ca/tickets or watch the action on OUA.tv.
