In a series where shutouts were the order of the day, the Queen's Gaels were able to find one more clean sheet than the Waterloo Warriors.
  
Queen's keeper Stephanie Pascal made 19 saves for her second shutout of the series, as the eighth-seed Warriors fell 4-0 to the top-seed Gaels in the decisive game of their best-of-three OUA quarterfinal on Saturday night in Kingston.  

Addi Halladay's early second-period marker held up as the game winner, with Katrina Manoukarakis adding a goal in the third. Queen's also notched a pair of empty netters from Michele Knecht and Brooklyn Bastarache to salt the game away late.  

The loss eliminates the Warriors from the postseason, despite the efforts of goaltender Stephanie Sluys (Clinton/) - the graduating senior followed up her game two shutout with a 36-save performance in what was her final game in the black and gold.  

With so much at stake in the deciding game three, both teams came out of the gates with a cautious defensive mindset. But the Gaels, ranked 8th in Canada, began to tilt the ice in their favour as the first period wore on.  

They were able to break through just over three minutes into the second, when Halladay broke in on a partial break and beat Sluys low to the glove side. 

The Warriors looked to tie it later in the frame, but the goal was waved off, as it was deemed the net was knocked off before the puck crossed the line.  

Sluys remained under seige for the rest of the middle stanza, as Queen's outshot Waterloo 13-5. But Halladay was the only one to beat the all-star keeper, as the Warriors found themselves down 1-0 after 40 minutes.  

The prospects of a comeback were put further out of reach when Manoukarakis found a loose puck in a maze of players in front, firing home a wrister to make it 2-0. With Sluys on the bench for an extra attacker, and the Warriors in desperation mode, the  Gaels scored twice with the empty net to advance to the OUA semifinals.  

The Warriors will now enter the offseason as they look to reload for 2018-19.