Thanks to their extensive experience in big games, the Warriors women's hockey team stayed poised and collected through the peaks and valleys of their playoff opener against the Laurier Golden Hawks. And thanks to a rocket off the stick blade of Lyndsy Acheson (Summerland,BC/), the Warriors skated away with a 1-0 series lead. 

Acheson's point shot blast found the back of the twine just over five minutes into overtime, as the Warriors claimed a 4-3 triumph in game 1 of their McCaw Cup quarterfinal series with Laurier on Wednesday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena. 

Waterloo got goals from Carly Orth (Bolton,ON/), Keiara Raitt (Ancaster,ON/), and Paige Rynne (Ancaster,ON/) in the victory, while Acheson added an assist for a two-point night. Kara Mark (New Hamburg,ON/) made 28 saves in the contest, which moved Waterloo within one game of reaching the OUA semifinals for the second straight season. 

The Golden Hawks erased two separate Waterloo leads on the night, including a game-tying power play marker by Kylie Laliberte with just over four minutes left in regulation. Olivia McMillan and Emerie Maltby also scored for the Hawks, while goaltender Acadia Carlson was brilliant in making 47 saves on 51 Waterloo shots.  

The Warriors jumped out to an early lead in game one, when Orth went inside out and roofed a highlight-reel marker to open the scoring just over five minutes in. Waterloo saw their lead double shortly thereafter, when Raitt whacked home a Brooklyn Cole (Kitchener,ON/) rebound to make it 2-0 before the game was even seven minutes old. 

In their first playoff appearance since 2016, the Hawks struggled early to get their legs under them. But thanks to some inopportune penalties, Laurier got back into the game thanks to their vaunted power play – first, it was McMillan cashing in on the doorstep during a 5-on-3 advantage, and then Maltby slid home a centering pass in-front under two minutes later to tie the score at 2-2 after one period. 

Waterloo carried the play in the second period, and they retook the lead when Rynne jammed a loose puck between Carlson and the post to restore the one-goal advantage for the Warriors. Laurier found a few chances in the middle frame to equalize, but Mark's play kept the black and gold ahead 3-2 after 40 minutes. 

Throughout much of the third, Carlson's heroics kept her team within a goal. Eventually, it paid off, when Laliberte walked in from the point and rifled a high shot off the bar and in past Mark on the power play, squaring the game at 3-3 with just over four minutes left in in the third. The Warriors had a late power play and a chance to win it in regulation, but Jessie Fennell's (Fonthill, ON/) point blast pinged off iron with just seconds left on the clock, sending game one into overtime. 

After killing the rest of the Waterloo power play in the extra frame, Laurier got a chance of their own on the advantage early into overtime. But the Waterloo penalty kill was able to keep the red-hot Laurier special teams unit at bay, setting up the heroics from Acheson. 

Leah Herrfort (Palmerston,ON/) won a defensive zone draw cleanly, and Tatum James (Stratford, ON/) broke all the way into the Laurier zone on the left-wing boards. Her feed was just behind the rushing Herrfort, but the trailing Acheson took a few strides in from the blue line and clapped a high, hard shot from inside the point. The blast ricocheted off a Laurier defender and behind Carlson, to give Waterloo a 4-3 win and a 1-0 series lead. 

Waterloo will have a chance to sweep the best-of-three OUA quarterfinal when game two goes on Saturday afternoon at RIM Park in Waterloo. Puck drop is slated for 4:30pm.