Morillo and Gibson score a pair to lead UOIT to victory
OUA Women's Hockey: UOIT defeated Western 4-3
OSHAWA, Ont. – Jill Morillo and Jaclyn Gibson each scored a pair of goals to lead the UOIT women's hockey team to a 4-3 victory over the Western Mustangs Saturday afternoon at the Campus Ice Centre.
Morillo (Whitby, Ont.), a fifth year Nuclear Engineering & Management major, recorded her 59th and 60th career goals in the Ridgebacks 10th victory of the season. The milestone marker puts her seventh on the OUA all-time goal scoring charts, as she is tied with Andrea Hunter who played for the Toronto Varsity Blues from 1991 to 1996. Morillo has recorded 10 goals this year.
Gibson's two goals also gave her 10 this season, almost doubling her total amount scored in her previous four seasons (11). Gibson (Cobourg, Ont.) and Morillo are tied for fifth in OUA goal scoring this season.
After going scoreless over the first 20 minutes in Saturday's game, it was Western who managed to break the ice as Marlowe Pecora beat UOIT goaltender Cassie Charette (Ottawa, Ont.) six minutes into the second period.
Ten minutes later, Sarah Worthington (Whitby, Ont.) worked hard along the boards to force a Western turnover. Falling to the ice, Worthington managed to feed Morillo in front of the net who beat Western goaltender Oliva Ross. With momentum on their side and working on the power play, Gibson blasted a snap shot over the goaltender's glove to give UOIT their first lead of the game.
Gibson would strike again a minute into the third period with her second goal of the game. However, the Mustangs would respond three minutes later with one of their own.
With Western pressing for the equalizer, Morillo would add some insurance as she recorded the Ridgebacks second power play goal. UOIT would end up needing that extra goal as Western scored late and forced Charette to make several key saves in the final minutes to preserve the one-goal victory.
Defenders played a key role in the Ridgeback victory as Rachel Budden (Richmond, B.C.) and Melissa Berney (Bowmanville, Ont.) each had an assist on the team's third period goals.
Freshman Mikaeli Cavell (Edmonton, Alta) recorded an assist to extend her point streak to three games. Cavell is tenth in OUA freshman scoring with 10 points in 19 games.
Charette made 25 saves in her third win of the year. Ross finished the night with 33 saves for Western, but suffered her first loss in her past four games.
UOIT outshot Western 37-28, including 21-5 in the second period.
It was a big win for UOIT (10-8-1) as they move within two points of Western (11-7-1) and Windsor (11-7-1) for fifth place in the OUA standings. UOIT swept the season series over Western with two victories.
The Ridgebacks will head up north next weekend to take on the Nipissing Lakers (Saturday) and Laurentian Voyageurs (Sunday). This will be the Ridgebacks first visit to North Bay and Sudbury as it is their first year in OUA women's hockey.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 14-9-1
Conference Record: 10-8-1
Next Game: Sat. Jan. 25 @ Nipissing (2:30 p.m.)
