The Windsor Lancer women's hockey team opened their season on the road up in Waterloo over the weekend where they faced off against the Laurier Golden Hawks first on Friday night dropping a 3-1 contest before playing the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday afternoon and suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to the black and gold.
 
WEEKEND STATS
On Friday, Ilena Ricker-Singh scored the first Lancer goal of the 2024-25 season while Jaden Cherry picked up her first assist of the season on Ricker-Singh's tally. 
 
In net, Rebecca Noble had a strong performance while guarding the Lancers crease in her OUA debut as the rookie netminder and made 38 saves despite the loss to Laurier. 
 
On Saturday, Maggi DeWolf-Russ and Sierra Moreau scored for the blue and gold.  Meanwhile Cadence Petitclerc made 32 saves in the four-period loss that still earned her team a point in the standings.
 
FRIDAY GAME FLOW
The Laurier Golden Hawks struck first on the scoresheet with their first power play marker on the night coming off the stick of Abby Glandon to make it a 1-0 lead late in the opening period at 17:10 of the first to put the hosts up a goal on the visiting Lancers. 
 
The one goal deficit would remain intact throughout the remainder of the first frame and even stayed true throughout the entire second period as both Noble and her counterpart in the Laurier crease Kayla Renaud stood tall between the pipes. 
 
At 1:50 of the third period the Golden Hawks power play cashed in again with another goal with the special teams unit that came from Clara Chisholm who got one past Noble to put the purple and gold ahead on the blue and gold by double with a 2-0 lead.
 
The Lancers would finally break Renaud's potential shutout earning their first goal of the season at 9:13 of the third period from Ricker-Singh's shot that found the back of the Golden Hawks net while Cherry recorded the lone assist on the Lancers goal to cut the deficit down to one again with Laurier leading 2-1 then. 
 
Hayley Szymanowski would spoil the comeback surge that was put forth by the Lancers late in the third with her insurance goal for Laurier which made it a 3-1 hockey game. 
 
Laurier's Arielle MacDonald picked up her second assist on the evening while Olivia MacMillan also recorded two assists on the first two Laurier goals as both Golden Hawks had two-point nights. 
 
Renaud would backstop her team to victory on home ice ensuring the victory for the Golden Hawks defeating the Lancers 3-1 as the blue and gold came up short in their first outing on the young season before heading across town to take on the Waterloo Warriors the next day.
 
SATURDAY GAME FLOW
The Warriors penalty kill unit opened the scoring which made it a 1-0 game at 8:23 in the first period off the stick of Grace Smith who scored the shorthanded tally. 
 
Waterloo would then double their lead in the first to make it a 2-0 game at 14:57 of the first frame with Faith Mitchell's goal for the Warriors who remained ahead by two goals going into the first intermission. 
 
In the second period, the Lancers would response at the 16:24 mark with DeWolf-Russ putting away her first of the season past the Waterloo netminder Kara Mark to make it a 2-1 game.  Cherry and Keanna McKibbin would pick up the assists on the DeWolf-Russ goal. 
 
It then became a goaltending battle between Mark and Petitclerc at both ends of the ice as both goaltenders looked sharp to round out the second period and go into the third period with both teams trading momentum. 
 
The Lancers would elevate their momentum late in the third period when Moreau scored her first of the season to tie the game up at 2-2 at the 16:06 mark with assists on the Lancers second goal by Moreau coming from Elissa Benjamin and Maggie Peterson to force a stalemate and trigger the potential for overtime at the end of regulation time. 
 
That indeed was the case as a fourth period was needed to solve the contest but nothing further as Waterloo's Leah Herrfort was the hero in overtime ending the contest in favour of the home side with her heartbreaking goal at 3:15 in OT serving the Lancers their second consecutive loss on the weekend in Waterloo. 
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now get set for their home opener at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex happening on Thursday October 17th at noon when they will host the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks for a rare 12:00pm puck drop. 
 
For fans looking to catch the action from outside the rink the game will also be streaming live on oua.tv for the midday match up on Thursday.