Box Score The Windsor Lancers women's hockey team defeated the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night in what was their first of two weekend meetings slated with the Warriors this weekend in Waterloo at the Columbia Ice Field Arena.
 
This first outing had no shortage of action as both teams came out with incredible play and intensity throughout which eventually led to the contest being decided in a shootout where the blue and gold emerged as victorious in an exciting 3-2 shootout win fashion.
 
STATS
Kristen Swiatoschik was the hero of the game as she turned aside 63 out of 65 shots faced in a remarkable 63 save performance and recording one assist on Windsor's second period goal prior to heading into a shootout showdown where she was able to stop two out of three Waterloo skaters to lead the Lancers over the Warriors. 
 
Maggie Peterson scored two goals netting her eighth and ninth of the season. Paige McArthur and Rorie Ringor had the helpers on the first Peterson goal for Windsor.
 
While the shootout scorers for the Lancers were Jessica Gribbon and Keana McKibbin. 
 
GAME FLOW
In the first period, both teams traded shots and saw strong saves from Swiatoschik and her Waterloo crease counterpart Carley Molnar.
 
However, it was the Lancers who opened the scoring at 16:28 of the first on the power play when Peterson beat Molnar to snap the scoreless streak between both sides and put the Lancers up 1-0. 
 
The second period saw Peterson again continue to wreak havoc against the Warriors who forefeited another goal to Peterson and the Lancers as she was able to snipe another shot in past the Waterloo netminder and go up 2-0. 
 
Swiatoschik would record her first assist on the campaign on Peterson's goal getting the Lancer goaltender on the scoresheet for the first time this season with her first point. 
 
Waterloo would respond though in ensuring Swiatoschik remained challenged in the Lancers crease when Keiara Raitt found the back of the Lancer net while on the power play at 10:22 to trim the Warrior deficit down to one and cut the Lancer lead in half at 2-1. 
 
The third period appeared quiet to start seeing both teams once again exchanging shots on both goalies at both ends.  That is until Waterloo was able to find the equalizer at 8:46 when Leah Herrfort's shot got by Swiatoschik to tie the game up at 2-2.
 
The Lancers were unable to respond to Herrfort's third period marker and the Warriors could not notch another past the Lancers goal line as Swiatoschik guarded her goal from there on out with heightened security. 
 
Off to overtime both squads went with Waterloo steaming out of the gate trying to snipe the potential game winning goal past Swiatoschik.  However, the hot stopper Lancer goalie pounced on every Waterloo shot that came her way ensuring that she would not be beaten again by a black and gold sweater wearer. 
 
Molnar stood her ground on the other side of the ice when Windsor had their opportunities to challenge the Waterloo goaltender but ultimately could not find a way to get it done with an extra period hence a shootout became necessary down the stretch once time expired in the overtime period.
 
The shootout showdown saw the Warriors player Herrfort miss her first attempt against Swiatoschik.  The Lancers made good on their first attempt by Gribbon to go up 1-0 in the shootout contest.  The next shooter was the Warriors Carley Olivier who was successful in getting one in the Lancers net and knotting the shootout score at 1-1.
 
Windsor would then find their groove once again with a McKibbin move that got behind Molnar to put up the visitors 2-1 in the shootout and push Waterloo to the brink of pressure.  In a must-score situation, Waterloo's Carly Orth was unable to deke out the amazing goaltending of Swiatoschik who ended the game for the blue and gold and in fitting fashion capping off the night with an impressive all-around performance consisting of 63 saves, 1 assist and the game winning shootout save.
 
With this recent hard-fought win, the Lancers snapped a two-game losing streak which included a previous 4-2 loss to the Warriors back on February 3^rd at home to now improve to a current 15-9-1 record on the season.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancer will spend the night in Waterloo to prepare for a rematch in less than 24 hours' time against the Warriors.  The puck drop is scheduled for Saturday's afternoon matinee at 2:30pm and the game will be streamed live on OUA.tv for fans to tune into.