The Warriors’ women’s hockey team played their second game of another back-to-back Oct. 30, and closed out the game 4-2 against the Western Mustangs. Forward Rachel Marriott scored a pair of goals to lead the offence, while rookie goalie Taylor Reimer stopped 20 of the 22 shots.
The afternoon game started with back-and-forth action between both sides until Marriott was able to net a bar down goal on the power play to open the scoring. Her first goal of the season was assisted by Warriors’ defence Michelle Tanel and Dana Fairbarn. Six minutes later, Mustangs’ Lyndsay Kirkham was able to score her fourth goal of the season to get her team back into the game. A minute later, the Warriors were back on the power play and they made sure to take advantage of the opportunity. With two seconds left in the power play, Carolyn Burke found a way to get the puck into the net for her first goal of the season. The unassisted goal came as the last scoring play of the frame, as the Warriors headed into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Wasting no time to tie the game up, Mustangs’ Alyssa Chiarello scored at the 2:35 mark of the second period. There wasn’t much action for the remainder of the period as both teams were unable to convert on their chances in the power play. The game would be decided in the final frame as both teams headed into the dressing rooms for the second intermission.
Similar to the first, Marriott opened the third period with another goal. Her unassisted goal at the 6:35 mark would go on to be the the game-winning goal. Three minutes later, forward Amy Barnard scored the fourth goal of the game, and her third of the season. Marriott and Burke were credited with helpers on the play. The Mustangs would not get themselves back into the game in the final 10 minutes, and the Warriors came away with the 4-2 win.
Reimer earned the second win of her young OUA career with 20 stops on Sunday night, and remains undefeated for the season. Marriott’s two goals in the game got her “Warrior of the Week” recognition.
After the game, forward Angela Macdonald attributed her team’s win to success on the power play, “We were able to capitalize on our power play — that helped us out a lot.”
Prior to the win, the Warriors battled against the Windsor Lancers on Saturday. Despite the tightly-contested nature of the game, the Warriors unfortunately lost by a single goal. Tanel scored the first of her weekend goals to open the scoring for the Warriors, while Marissa Redmond added another tally to the scoreboard for her second of the season. The Lancers would take the 3-2 lead in the final frame of the game, but the Warriors wouldn’t be able to put together a sequence to find the equalizer.
Stephanie Digness spoke highly of her team’s work ethic despite the loss, “It was a grind, always tough coming off the bus. We battled right until the end though which shows a lot about our team’s character. We didn’t get the chances we needed but we were ready to bounce back.”
Before losing the game on Saturday with 28 saves, Warriors’ goaltender Stephanie Sluys was coming off of back-to-back shutouts. Due to this success, she was not only named last week’s “Warrior of the Week”, but also “OUA Athlete of the Week.”
With a win and a loss last weekend, the Warriors now sit at fourth place in the OUA with eleven points.
The Warriors will play another back-to-back at home next weekend against a couple of visitors from the north. The Laurentian Voyageurs will play as their foes on Saturday, while the Nipissing Lakers come for battle on Sunday at the Icefields.
