TORONTO, Ont. - The UOIT Ridgebacks women's hockey team earned a crucial road victory at York on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Lions by a final score of 4-1.

The win improves the Ridgebacks record to 7-11-1-1 (W-L-OTW-OTL) on the season, bumping them up to within six points of the final playoff position currently held by the Brock Badgers.

Both teams received exceptional goaltender play throughout the first 40 minutes of action in the Sunday afternoon showdown, but in the final period the Ridgebacks took over, scoring three unanswered goals, while not allowing the Lions to get a single shot on net.

UOIT will now return home with the necessity of carrying the full-team effort into back-to-back contests with Waterloo opponents. They begin the home weekend by challenging the Laurier Golden Hawks on Thursday, Jan. 31 and Waterloo Warriors on Friday, Feb. 1 at the Campus Ice Centre. Puck drop for the Thursday contest is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., while the Friday matchup will take place in the afternoon beginning at 3:30 p.m.  
 

LIGHT THE LAMP

• Kassidy Ford (Gananoque, Ont.) opened the scoring for the Ridgebacks with her first goal of the season, a seeing-eye point shot which found its way to the back of the net at 6:16 of the first period.
• The Lions found an equalizer in the second period as Taylor Davison scored on a point shot of her own to make it a 1-1 game heading into the third.
• Chelsea Ball (Maple, Ont.) netted the game-winning goal for the Ridgebacks just two minutes into the final frame, finishing off a perfect pass to the slot from Megan Johnston (Goderich, Ont.). 
• UOIT added an insurance marker just four minutes later thanks to a rebound in front of the Lions net making its way to the stick of Erin Ross (Lucan, Ont.), burying her fifth goal of the season and securing a point in a third consecutive game.
• York pulled their goalie with five minutes remaining and Alex Frigon (Dartmouth, N.S.) raced down the right wing to score an empty-netter for the Ridgebacks, rounding out scoring in the afternoon tilt.
 

BETWEEN THE PIPES

• Brooke Vial (Port Moody, B.C.) was outstanding in net for UOIT earning her fifth win of the season with a 16 save performance.
• Lauren Dubie made 20 saves in the loss for the Lions.
 

RIDGEBACKS AT A GLANCE

Overall Record: 9-12-2-1 (W-L-OTW-OTL)
Conference Record: 7-11-1-1 (W-L-OTW-OTL)
 
Next Game: Thursday, Jan. 31 vs. Laurier Golden Hawks • 7:30 p.m. – Campus Ice Centre

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