The Waterloo Warriors women's hockey team continues to rack up the wins as they head towards the postseason.
With the calendar flipping to February, the Warriors registered another undefeated week as they topped the Laurier Golden Hawks 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night, before skating past the Brock Badgers 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Waterloo improved their record to 16-6-2 on the season, and they assured themselves of home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs by clinching the second seed in the OUA's West division. The Warriors are now 11-1-1 in their last 13 games, as they continue building momentum ahead of the playoffs.
Waterloo 3, Laurier 2
In their first road meeting of the season with the Golden Hawks, Waterloo got outstanding goaltending from Kara Mark (New Hamburg,ON/) and some last-minute heroics from Brooklyn Cole (Kitchener,ON/) and Carly Orth (Bolton,ON/), as the Warriors came from behind to claim a 3-2 overtime victory on Thursday night.
The hosts carried the bulk of the pressure through the first period, and Laurier captain Hayley Szymanowski's beautiful short-handed breakaway tally was the opening period's only goal. Waterloo pressed and finally found the equalizer late in the second, when Madison Pritchard (Richards Landing,ON/) used the Hawks defender as a perfect screen and fired a wrister past Laurier netminder Acadia Carlson to make it 1-1 after 40 minutes.
Chloe Davison reclaimed the lead for Laurier early in the third, as the Hawks looked to narrow the gap between them and the Warriors for second place in the division. But with Mark on the bench for the extra attacker, Cole steamed down the right wing and centered a perfect pass for Orth, who made no mistake in hammering a shot home to knot things up at 2-2.
Despite a big Carlson save on an Andrea Murray (Mississauga,ON/) breakaway in overtime, the Warriors were undeterred. The black and gold kept the pressure on, and Cole picked the top corner at 1:13 of overtime to win it for Waterloo.
Playing without leading scorer Leah Herrfort (Palmerston,ON/), Orth and Cole stepped up with a goal and an assist each. Sarah Irwin (North Bay,ON/) and Jessie Fennel also picked up assists, while Mark finished with a season-high 42 saves on 44 shots.
Brock 2, Waterloo 4
On Sunday afternoon at home, Waterloo capped a successful senior day celebration with a three-goal third period, as they defeated the Brock Badgers 4-2.
Herrfort returned to the lineup with two assists, while Waterloo got goals from Keiara Raitt (Ancaster,ON/), Lyndsey Acheson, Elizabeth Lenardon (Kelowna,BC/), and Tatum James (Stratford, ON/) in the win. Senior Mikayla Schnarr (Waterloo,ON/) stopped 13 shots in the win, as Waterloo dominated on the shot clock by a 38-15 margin - including 16-2 in the third period.
After a scoreless first, Raitt opened the scoring when she deftly tipped a Sarah Bestic (Waterloo,ON/) point shot past Brock keeper Kenzie Harmison to make it 1-0 Waterloo. The Badgers responded later in the frame, as Allison Stevenson converted a gorgeous pass from Claudia Murphy to make it 1-1 heading into the third.
But it was all Warriors in the final stanza, beginning with a highlight-reel tally from Acheson - the fleet-footed defender rushed the length of the ice and roofed a puck from an impossible angle to give the Warriors the lead. Then, after coming close multiple times on a 5-on-3 advantage, Lenardon fired home a faceoff win from Herrfort to widen the lead to 3-1.
The Badgers' Ella Krushelnicki drew the visitors within a goal later in the period, but the Warriors took just 13 seconds to regain their two-goal cushion: off the ensuing faceoff after the Badgers' goal, Herrfort carried a Fennel pass in to the Brock zone and laid a perfect pass cross-crease to James, who slammed it home on the back post to give Waterloo a 4-2 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.
The Warriors will now hit the road for the penultimate weekend of regular season action, as they visit the Windsor Lancers on Thursday, February 8, and the Western Mustangs on Friday, February 9.
