Box Score
Guelph, ON: The Guelph Gryphons exploded to a 5-0 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks in women's hockey Saturday afternoon. Second-year goalie Valerie Lamenta (Montréal, QC), earned her third shutout of the 2015-16 campaign, and centre Jessica Pinkerton (Oshawa, ON) scored the game winner as the Gryphons improved to 5-2 on the season. 
It took less than four minutes into the game for Gryphons fifth-year Pinkerton to bury her third goal of the season on a backhander from a tough angle. Her right winger, fourth-year Christine Grant (Mississauga, ON), had a shot from near the goal line Ridgebacks third-year goalie Tori Campbell's (Lethbridge, AB) left, and the puck rebounded right to Pinkerton's stick on the far side of the net. Grant's assist on the play continued her point-per-game scoring pace, with six assists over her six games played. 
Just over 11 minutes into the first period, rookie Ashlee Lawrence (Owen Sound, ON) scored her first goal as a Gryphon on a breakaway to make it 2-0. The Ridgebacks' leading scorer, second-year right winger Chelsea Ball (Maple, ON), turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Lawrence, who staved off the Ridgebacks' backcheck and beat Campbell over the blocker.

Twenty-seven seconds later, and just as Lawrence's goal was being announced, fourth-year right winger Averi Nooren (Aylmer, ON) broke in alone and went low on Campbell's glove side for her third tally of the year. Nooren and Pinkerton are now tied for the team lead in goals. 

 Leading 3-0 after the first period, Guelph didn't get complacent, but kept applying pressure, peppering Campbell with 31 shots. The Gryphons tallied a goal in both the second and third, with third-year left winger Brittany St. James (Orono, ON) and second-year right winger Sophie Contant (Cornwall, ON) finding the twine, in Guelph's largest margin of victory so far this season.

 Both Nooren and St. James recorded a goal and an assist for Guelph. Their line, along with third-year centre Kelly Gribbons (Port Elgin, ON), combined for five points after being held scoreless last weekend against Brock, despite putting an abundance of shots toward the Badgers net.

Lamenta, who's been something of a revelation in net during her second season, led Guelph to its third-consecutive victory as she turned aside all 19 Ridgebacks shots. Lamenta now ranks first in the CIS with a minute 0.40 goals-against average and is tied for first with a .984 save percentage . As the shutout would suggest, she was solid throughout the game. Lamenta didn't make anything look hard, as she was great positionally. It seemed every chance the Ridgebacks had wound up right into the crest of her sweater.

It'll be interesting to see who Guelph turns to in net tomorrow afternoon as they host Queen's. Lamenta's backstopped the Gryphons throughout their current three-game win streak, and has supplanted fifth-year goalie Stephanie Nehring (Oshawa, ON) as the starter. Nehring was a scratch in the UOIT game, which could possibly be to rest her for the game against Queen's Sunday. But Lamenta fared well in back-to-backs last weekend, and didn't have to exert herself too much this afternoon. 
It's a 2:00pm start Sunday against the OUA's second-place Queen's Gaels at the Gryphon Centre Arena. With Queen's riding a four-game winning streak, and ranked first in team defence (just ahead of Guelph, with 0.70 and 0.90 goals against averages, respectively), it should be a great matchup.