The Windsor Lancer women's hockey team took a trip up to Guelph to take on the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons this weekend to round out their 2023-24 OUA regular season on the road.
The Gryphons won a 3-1 bout over the Lancers on Friday while on Saturday the Lancers managed to bounce back and complete an epic 2-1 comeback win over Guelph.
The Saturday victory secures the Lancers spot in the OUA post season, and they will once again face the Gryphons in the OUA quarter-finals this week.
FRIDAY STATS
Jaden Cherry scored the lone goal for Windsor on Friday night which came as an unassisted power play marker in the first period.
In goal,
Kristen Swiatoschik turned aside 41 of 43 Guelph shots faced in the loss to the Gryphons.
HOW IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY
Cherry opened the game's scoring on the powerplay at the 9:03 mark of the first period to make it a 1-0 Lancer lead.
The Lancer lead would hold strong on the scoreboard for the duration of the first and second periods before the Lancers were met with an equalizer by the Gryphons which came early in the third period. Hannah Tait scored for Guelph at 3:57 into the third to make it a 1-1 tie.
Chihiro Suzuki scored at 7:39 to give the Gryphons their first lead of the contest and make it a 2-1 Guelph lead.
The blue and gold would circle the Guelph goal looking for an answer hoping to get another shot by Guelph's goalie Sophie Helfenstein who turned aside 22 of the 23 Lancer shots faced.
Guelph would add the insurance marker in the form of an empty netter off the stick of Maeve Sutherland-Case at 18:41 to ensure that the Gryphons closed out the third period and game on top 3-1.
SATURDAY STATS
Emily Eikelboom and
Maggie Peterson were the goal scorers for the blue and gold who helped them secure an upcoming playoff tilt with the Gryphons scheduled for next week.
Between the pipes
Kristen Swiatoschik stood tall again for a second straight night with a solid 40 save performance to secure the win for Windsor.
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY
The opening period was scoreless as Guelph's goaltender Martina Fedel and Lancer goalie Swiatoschik each guarded their creases flawlessly to keep the score stalemated at 0.
In the second period, Guelph would hatch open one of the gooseeggs on the scoreboard when Jaime Magoffin scored at 16:44 to make it a 1-0 contest.
The Gryphons kept their one-goal lead up until 6:19 of the third frame when the Lancers found an opportunity to score off Eikelboom's stick to make it a 1-1 hockey game.
Jessica Legault and
Rorie Ringor each assisted on Eikelboom's equalizer.
Just over four minutes later, the stalemate would cease to exist when Peterson scored at 10:30 of the final period of regulation play to stave off potential overtime and allow the Lancers to make it a 2-1 lead that fired up their troops down the stretch.
Elissa Benjamin and
Jaden Cherry each drew assists on Peterson's game winning goal which did remain as the last goal to be scored with the Lancers holding on despite late Guelph pressure to earn a split decision on the weekend with a remarkable comeback victory over the Gryphons on the road.
With that the Lancers have officially wrapped up the 2023-24 OUA regular season in Guelph but will return to Guelph for a playoff match up slated for next week following their win over the Gryphons on Saturday night.
UP NEXT
As mentioned, the Lancers will face off with the Gryphons again, this time in a best of three OUA quarter final series that will kick off this Wednesday, February 21st at 7:30pm in Guelph before coming home to host game two in Windsor on Friday night at 7:30pm inside the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex.
Tickets for game two are available online at goLancers.ca/tickets in advance or at the gate on game day. All games in the series will be livestreamed on oua.tv and fans can follow along on X for live game updates throughout the series.
