TORONTO, Ont. – The Laurier Golden Hawks dropped a tightly contested match-up in their final regular-season road game, falling 3-1 to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday night at Varsity Arena. With the loss, Laurier now sits three points back of Guelph in the race for first place in the OUA standings. 

Despite the result, Laurier's manager of women's hockey operations and head coach, Kelly Paton, felt the team's overall approach was there. "I felt like our process was not bad today," she said. "We put ourselves in a position to get out to an early lead, but objectively, our offence fell short on finishing chances." 

Between the pipes, OUA goals-against average (0.95) and save percentage (.958) leader Sarah Howell turned aside 26 shots in the loss. 

Coming off a hard-fought win the night before in North Bay, the Golden Hawks were facing a familiar opponent in the defending McGaw Cup champions, whom they had defeated just one week earlier in an overtime thriller. 

Laurier wasted little time getting on the board. Just over a minute into the opening frame, Marra Klassen, fresh off her shootout heroics against Nipissing, picked up the puck at the top of the right circle and snapped a shot over the glove of Toronto goaltender Lyla McKinnon to give the Golden Hawks an early 1-0 lead. 

The purple and gold continued to generate chances and dictated much of the play, but McKinnon stood tall, turning aside 42 consecutive shots after letting the first one get by her. Laurier was unable to extend its lead despite three power-play opportunities in the first period. 

Defensively, the Golden Hawks remained composed and protected the one-goal advantage deep into the third. However, penalty trouble proved costly down the stretch, a theme Paton acknowledged post-game. "It's the same conversation we've had the last few games," she said. "We've been in positions to win, and something like a penalty has started to impact our results, especially in the last 10 minutes of the game." 

After killing off a tripping minor midway through the third, Laurier returned to five-on-five, but not long after Petra Klimes found a shooting lane through traffic and beat Howell to tie the game at one.  

With under two minutes remaining, Laurier was assessed another penalty, and moments later, a second infraction put the Golden Hawks down two skaters for the second straight game. 

Toronto would capitalize on the ensuing 5-on-3, as Kalie Chan found Ashley Delahey, who buried the go-ahead goal with just 47 seconds left. It marked the third consecutive game in which Laurier surrendered a goal in the final two minutes of regulation. 

"We put ourselves on another 5-on-3," Paton said. "We had killed one off the night before, but at some point, other teams are going to capitalize, which Toronto did tonight." 

Still shorthanded, Laurier pulled Howell for the extra attacker, but Christina Alexiou sealed the game with an empty-net goal. 

Looking ahead, Paton emphasized the importance of tightening up late as the postseason fast approaches. "It's getting into playoff territory, and teams in it are playing good hockey," she said. "We need to have a better effort in the last period, specifically the last 10 minutes. Our details have to get a lot better." 

The Golden Hawks look to turn things around as they return home on Thursday night to host the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. Tickets for Pride Night are available at tickets.laurierathletics.com