TORONTO - The TMU women's hockey team fell by a score of 3-2 on Saturday afternoon to the Western Mustangs. The Bold are still in search of their second win of the season. Starring for the Bold in defeat was captain Emily Baxter and Neely Van Volsen, who scored the two Bold goals. It was the second match-up between these two sides, with Western prevailing 4-1 in London earlier this season.
The Bold found themselves down early in the contest, with Western finding the back of the net twice just five minutes into the contest. The Bold faced a barrage of shots early, with first year goaltender Shannon Harris, making her third start of the season, facing ten shots in the game's opening ten minutes. Penalties further killed Bold momentum, as TMU took three penalties in the first frame. The Bold were solid on the penalty kill in both the first and second however, keeping the deficit manageable.
"To steal a term from our national team program, 'sometimes a penalty kill is actually a power kill.'" said head coach Lisa Haley. "You can look at it one way or the other. It's an opportunity to gain momentum or put yourself behind the eight ball."
On a penalty kill to open the second, captain Emily Baxter brought the Bold to within one. It re-instilled life in the Bold to begin the middle stanza. The Bold generated the majority of chances throughout the period with sustained zone time and strong puck movement from Ahalya Julien-Medeiros.
The Mustangs would stretch their lead however, with a pretty passing display putting the Bold back in a two goal deficit. From there, Western regained control of the game, hemming the TMU defense in their zone.
"When we needed her, as we were trying to get back in the game she was really solid and gave us the chances we needed to." coach Haley said of Harris, who stopped 36 of 39 shots she faced.
The Bold entered the third aggressive in search of equalizers. The Bold saw several high-quality chances early from Cailey Davis and Mia Moreno. TMU's success was driven by deflections from point shots, as Western forced the Bold's shots from the outside.
Then a power play halfway through the period gave the Bold a breakthrough. A point shot from Abby DeCorby was cleaned up in front by Neely Van Volsen, cutting the Western lead to one with 10 minutes to play. Then with two minutes to go Western took two penalties, putting the Bold on a 5-on-3 for the rest of the contest.
"We just tried to make sure we were moving the puck to spread them out a bit, just trying to create some lanes." Emily Baxter said about the team's approach to the 5-on-3.
It set the stage for a spectacular finish. The Bold powerplay was able to set up multiple plays in the Western end, utilizing the large amount of open ice. Despite creating several high danger chances, the Bold were unable to draw even as the buzzer sounded.
The Bold take on the U of T in a crosstown rivalry matchup on Thursday, November 23.
