GUELPH, Ont. – One week ago, the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team used some overtime magic to come away with a win in their 2021-22 OUA regular season opener. This time around, the Gryphons were on the wrong end of an overtime finish. Wednesday night (Nov. 10) at the Gryphon Centre Arena, the Gryphons women's hockey team suffered their first loss of the season, falling 3-2 to the visiting Waterloo Warriors in OT. Waterloo's Leah Herrfort was able to beat U of G goalie Ally Davidson to give the visitors a 3-2 win and improving the Warriors to 3-0 on the season. The Gryphons settle for a point and fall to 2-1-1.
Fresh off of a pair of wins over the Western Mustangs to start their season, the Gryphons entered Wednesday night's showdown with the Warriors with plenty of momentum.
The Gryphons were able to open the scoring thanks to second-year forward,
Hannah Tait. The Exeter, Ontario native, who scored on Saturday (Nov. 6) in Guelph's 2-0 road win at Western, would score her 2nd of the season after jamming home a rebound to give the Gryphons an early 1-0 lead over Waterloo. After the Warriors responded with a pair of goals in the 2nd period, the Gryphons would answer back thanks to third-year forward
Maddy Melo, who was able to re-direct home a point shot from rookie
Meaghan Chittick to tie the game at 2-2. It would stay that way until overtime, with Herrfort's goal securing both points for the Warriors. The Gryphons outshot the Warriors 31-30 on the night, with Gryphons second-year goalie Ally Davidson making 27 saves in her first start of the 2021-22 season.
"We knew it was going to be a good matchup," said Gryphons head coach
Rachel Flanagan. "Momentum shifted throughout the game but we just weren't able to capitalize on our chances." Guelph will now head to the University of Waterloo for a Saturday night matchup with the Warriors to complete the second half of the home-and-home series. Puck drop at the Columbia Ice Fields Arena is set for 7pm and can be seen live online at OUA.tv.
