LONDON, Ont. - The Ryerson Rams women's hockey team snapped a winless drought against the Western Mustangs on Saturday night, posting a 3-1 victory to wrap up the regular season on a winning note.

The Rams had not defeated Western since November 2013 but their fortunes turned around in the 2020 finale. Despite falling behind 1-0 early, the Rams forecheck came alive and provided pressure the Mustangs could not handle.

Western's Sam Wood opened the scoring just 4:29 into the game but before the buzzer sounded for the first intermission, the Rams struck on the power play. Lauren Nicholson (Dresden, Ont.) made a nice rush up the right wing and drove to the net, then dished cross crease to Erika Crouse (Kirkland Lake, Ont.) who made no mistake.

The teams headed to the locker room tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

Ryerson started to take over the game in the second period and scored a pair of goals two and a half minutes apart to take a commanding 3-1 lead.

Crouse scored her second of the game on a nice passing play with line mates Brooklyn Gemmill (Cambridge, Ont.) and Kryshanda Green (Brampton, Ont.). Green collected the puck on the half wall and found Gemmill who passed to Crouse coming off the end line. Crouse cut in front of the net and deposited a back hand into the cage for the eventual game-winning goal.

Shortly after, Crouse blocked a shot in the defensive zone and Green picked up the loose puck. She went coast to coast and scored five hole to pad the Rams' lead to 3-1.

It appeared the Rams struck again later in the second when Nicholson wristed the puck in from the slot but it was waived off on a too many player penalty.

The Rams were no worse for wear as goaltender Fanny Vigeant (St-Hyacinthe, Que.) stopped 30 of 31 shots she faced to shut the door down the stretch and guide Ryerson to the victory.

With the win the Rams moved up into fifth place to finish the regular season, while Western was eliminated from playoff contention. 

As the lower seed, Ryerson will host game two of the OUA quarter-final series next week. Stay tuned to ryersonrams.ca for all playoff information.