The Waterloo Warriors women's hockey team will enter the exam and holiday break on a three-game winning streak, thanks to a pair of resounding victories in their last weekend of the fall semester.  

The Warriors skated past the Brock Badgers 3-1 in St. Catharine's on Friday night, before shutting out the TMU Bold 3-0 in the first-half finale at the Columbia Icefield Arena a day later. 

Tatum James (Stratford, ON/) had a three-point weekend for Waterloo, snapping a five-game drought with a goal in each game. Meanwhile Mikayla Schnarr (Waterloo,ON/) stopped 46 of 47 shots in the pair of weekend wins, including her first shutout of the season against the Bold.  

Waterloo 3, Brock 1 

On Friday evening's matchup with the Badgers, the Warriors jumped out to an early advantage when James cashed on the power play just over five minutes into the first period. It was just the third time in 13 games that Waterloo had scored the game's first goal, allowing the skilled Warriors to play from ahead. 

Waterloo doubled their lead early in the second, when Herrfort found twine behind Brock keeper Kenzie Harmison to make it 2-0. With a two-goal cushion, Schnarr was excellent when called upon, and the Warriors kept the pressure on. It paid off again during a Warriors power play late in the middle stanza, when rookie defender Faith Mitchell (Stirling, ON/) swooped down from the point and scored on a beautiful individual effort. 

Jenna Duarte scored in the third for the Badgers, but the Warriors suffocated Brock's advances for the rest of the final period to salt away the 3-1 win. 

TMU 0, Waterloo 3 

A night later, the Warriors returned home and put together arguably their most complete effort of the season in a 3-0 victory. 

For the second straight night, Waterloo got on the board in the early goings, as Andrea Murray (Mississauga,ON/) converted on a 2-on-1 give-and-go with Carly Orth (Bolton,ON/) to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead before the game was five minutes old.  

The score remained at 1-0 through the rest of the first and the entire second period, but the long goalless span wasn't without excitement - specifically, on a short-handed bid from Kassidy McCarthy (Bowmanville,ON/), who hit the post on a partial breakaway. The affair also turned increasingly physical, as the animosity grew through the tight-checking middle frame. TMU's Lauren Griffin made several big stops for the Bold, while Schnarr met everything the visitors threw towards the Waterloo net. 

The persistence paid off for Waterloo in the third, when James led a 3-on-2 and zipped home a wicked wrister from the right-wing side to double Waterloo's lead. Then, midway through the period, McCarthy broke in alone and pulled a backhand deke that was nearly a carbon-copy of the play that she rung off the post earlier in the night. This time, though, McCarthy found twine over the right pad of Griffin for her first goal of the season, and a 3-0 Waterloo final. 

The Warriors now head into the break at 8-5-1, sitting in third place in the highly competitive OUA West division. Waterloo will start 2024 with a pair of road games, as they visit the league-leading Nipissing Lakers on January 6, before a return date with TMU on January 7.