TORONTO, Ont. - On Thursday night in Toronto, the UOIT Ridgebacks women's hockey team were unable to find an answer for the play of the Toronto Varsity Blues, falling by a final score of 4-1 in the road contest.
The Ridgebacks were slow out of the gates, being outshot 14-2 in the first period and 12-3 in the second. The offensive struggles saw UOIT enter the third period down 3-0 on the scoreboard, and despite scoring a third period goal and finding several more scoring chances in the final frame, it was too late of an offensive spark in the road matchup.
UOIT will return to Toronto on Saturday to face off with the Ryerson Rams. Puck drop for the afternoon tilt is set for 4:15 p.m. with the game also being streamed on OUA.tv.
• Late in the first period Toronto forward Avery Henry opened the scoring as she slipped a loose puck past Ridgebacks goaltender
Briar Hughes (Thornton, Ont.).
• With the Varsity Blues continuing to maintain pressure in the second period, Meagan O'Brien and Cristine Chao picked up goals just 22 seconds apart to put Toronto ahead of the Ridgebacks 3-0 after 40 minutes.
• Early in the third period,
Katie Heath (Elora, Ont.) sent
Blaire Allison (Pickering, Ont.) in for an open opportunity on net, which Allison converted sending the puck top shelf past Toronto goalie Erica Fryer for the Ridgebacks lone goal of the game. The goal was also Allison's first career OUA marker.
• With five minutes left in the game, Varsity Blues veteran Kassie Roache scored Toronto's fourth and final goal.
• Hughes was under serious pressure throughout the entirety of the 60 minutes, making a number of impressive saves to keep the Ridgebacks within reach, finishing the evening with 32 total stops.
• Fryer made just 11 saves in the win for Toronto, facing the most action in the third period with seven UOIT shots on net.
Overall Record: 8-9-1-1 (W-L-OTW-OTL)
Conference Record: 6-8-0-1
Next game: Saturday, Jan. 12 vs. Ryerson Rams • 4:15 p.m. – Toronto, Ont.
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