Box Score
It was looking like the Waterloo women's hockey season was going to get off to a nightmarish start. Two home games to start the season, a 1-0 loss to the UOIT Ridgebacks, and now a 2-0 deficit to the Queen's Gaels with just under eight minutes to play in the third.
But we've seen it from this team before, and we'll see it again; resiliency. Waterloo went on to score two late goals followed by an overtime winner off the stick of
Hannah Street (Shoal Lake/) as the Warriors picked up a huge 3-2 overtime victory.
Taylor Reimer (Morden/) was spectacular in her first start of the year, turning aside 31 shots in the win.
The best forward in the home opening loss,
Maryn Caragata (Etobicoke/) finally got the Warriors on the board, the first goal of the season for the black and gold at 12:38 of the third period.
Sarah Rettinger (Kitchener/) made a beauty cross seam pass to Caragata who fired it past Stephanie Pascal on the glove side, cutting the Gaels lead in half.
Emma Cheeseman (Waterloo/) picked up the second assist on the Warrior tally.
The goal seemed to spark life on the Warriors bench as the home side found their legs and put everything they had left into the final seven minutes. And that hard work paid off as
Alison Hanson (Toronto/) netted a goal mouth scramble with 41 seconds remaining in the period.
Stephanie Digness (Aldergrove/) and Carata picked up the helpers on the equalizer.
Overtime saw end to end action before
Rachel Marriott (Waterloo/) picked up the puck in the neutral zone, weaved her way past the Gaels defenders and slid a backhand pass to Street who made a perfect redirect past a helpless Pascal for the games winning goal.
They say timing is everything and what a time it was for Street to fire home her second career goal.
"It was a grind for us today, but the girls stuck with it and it paid off," said Head Coach
Shaun Reagan. "I felt we played a much better game in our season opener but that's the way it goes sometimes and we'll take the two points today. We've got a lot of things to clean up before our next games but I'm happy with our overall effort this weekend."
The Warriors will battle Laurier next Saturday, October 28 at the Memorial Rec Complex. Puck drop goes at 7:30pm.
