Victoria Alarcon
Sports & Health Editor
Last week’s losing streak became a distant memory Nov. 7 for the York women’s hockey team. They took to the ice for their second game in a row this weekend against their rival Queen Gaels for an overtime 4-3 win.
The whole game was a power struggle between both teams, going into over-time after Queen’s assistant captain Liz Kench scored a goal with just four minutes left in the last period.
York ultimately took the win home after fourth-year captain Courtney Unruh shot an unassisted goal right past the goalie’s glove. During the team’s seventh power play in the game, Unruh capitalized on her opponent’s disadvantage.
“We’ve been doing really well in our power plays,” said Unruh. “It’s one of our stronger parts of our game so far.”
Like Unruh, third-year player Kristie Wilson scored a goal in the first period, assisted by veteran player Autumn Mills. The two played exceptionally well on the ice this weekend with each scoring a goal in the Nov. 6 shutout win against University of Ontario institute of Technology Ridgebacks.
The team’s two wins come as a much needed confidence boost as the girls have been on the losing end of games so far this season.
“The big thing is we have to be more consistent. We have to be a team who plays for 60 minutes and we need to be mentally tough for 60 minutes,” said head coach Dan Church.
A lot of what has been lacking for the team thus far has been defensive strategy as opponents are able to break past several gaps in line-ups and speed through to the net. Today’s game was no exception as the team’s defence struggled to clear the puck from York’s zone.
“We’re young on defence in particular. We graduated fourth and fifth year defenders last year that weren’t just experienced but really good,” said Church.
It’s a lot of reliance on their goalie Sydney McMurter, who has made several amazing saves for her team in games where it has just been her and the opponent. McMurter says the team just needs to work on their focus in order to make the Ontario University Athletics playoffs.
At the moment, the Lions do not have a spot in the playoffs, but the chance of making it there is still alive. “We still have a long way to go. There are 18 games left in the season,” said Church. “We just have to continue to get better every game and our goal is to get into the playoffs and continue to move up in the standings. I think that’s a realistic goal.”
York will play against the Waterloo Warriors this weekend in hopes of earning a playoff spot.
- The women’s hockey team moves up to eighth place in standings after weekend wins. (Jad Yaghmour)
