Western took advantage of Waterloo's bus legs scoring 23 seconds apart in the opening five minutes and added one goal in the middle frame to skate past the Warriors 3-2 in game one of the OUA quarter-finals.
Despite being down 2-0 early in the contest Waterloo battled their way back to make it a one goal game after 20.
Cynthia Cavanagh (Scarborough/) banged in a rebound after a
Courtney Simpson (Sebringville/) shot at 11:38 of the first to make it a 2-1 game into the first intermission.
Western regained their two goal advantage late in the second period and took a 3-1 lead into the second break.
The Warriors came out flying in the third and cut the lead to one once again after
Taytum Clairmont (Waterloo/) wired a shot top corner past Carmen Lasis.
Down 3-2, Waterloo continued to put pressure on Western's defence but time would run out on the black and gold in the series opener.
Amanda Smith (Burlington/) was very solid in the loss, turning aside 32 of 35 shots while Lasis was less busy making 20 saves on 22 Warrior shots.
Waterloo will look to even the series on Saturday in game two. Puck drop is set for 2:30pm at the CIF Arena.
Game 2 Tickets
