KINGSTON, Ont. (January 22, 2016)- The Queen's Gaels women's hockey team lost its third-straight game on Friday evening at the Memorial Centre, falling to the Waterloo Warriors 3-1.

GAME FLOW
After successfully killing off a Warriors power-play midway through the opening 20 minutes, the Gaels took control of the game, maintaining possession for extended periods of time in the visitors end of the rink on multiple occasions. The continued pressure soon paid off, as the Warriors turned the puck over spending another long shift hemmed in behind their blue line.
 

MUST SEE - WHKY goes up 1-0 on @WlooWarriors as @emilyjukosky nets her first career @CIS_SIC goal #GoGaelsGo pic.twitter.com/tHxFZmrapX

— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) January 23, 2016

Stirling, Ont. native Emily Jukosky one-timed a pass from Mary Coughlin (Amherstburg, Ont.) past Rebecca Bouwhuis to open the scoring after Coughlin stole the puck down the sideboards. Michele Knecht (North York, Ont.) also picked up an assist on the Jukosky's first career CIS marker, which gave the home side a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
 
The hosts picked up where the left off in the first period, continuing to maintain a strong hold on the pace of the game through the first 10 minutes of the middle stanza and creating a number of scoring opportunities. Bouwhuis was equal to the task, however, first denying Knecht after the North York, Ont. native sped past the Waterloo defence on a partial break down the left wing. Bouwhuis went on to make 12 saves in the period, and her play proved crucial as it allowed the Warriors to score two goals in quick succession to move them in front later on in the period.
 
After Marissa Redmond zipped a shot under the cross bar over the glove of Caitlyn Lahonen, Paula LaGamba potted her 10th goal of the season from nearly the exact same spot just moments after the puck was dropped at centre ice, beating the Saskatoon, Sask. native with another in-close wrist shot from slightly right of the Gaels net. Within the span of just 19 seconds, the women found themselves trailing for the first time in the contest, and the score remained 2-1 for the Warriors at the end of the second period.
 
Neither team created a significant scoring opportunity during the first few minutes of the third period, but some pressure from the guests forced Lahonen into a shoulder save from a quick shot in tight with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.
 
The Warriors, however, were able to find their insurance marker with just over five minutes left in the game. A quick turnover behind the Gaels net was swiftly passed out to Kaitlyn McDonell, who had an easy tap-in to push the deficit up to three and put the game out of reach.  
 
Lahonen stopped 26 of 29 shots in the loss, while Bouwhuis turned away 28 of 29 Gael shots to earn the victory.
 
FINAL SAY
"I actually thought it was a pretty good game by us," said Head Coach Matt Holmberg. "We felt great after the first period and for the first 16 minutes of the second period, and unfortunately we didn't get much puck luck to help us extend the lead. And we just had a couple of quick, small defensive breakdowns in the second and they capitalized. Looking at the bigger picture we are playing relatively well, both defensively and goaltending wise. We are not just finding the back of the net, we've now just scored four goals in our last four games."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
3 - The teams combined for just three penalties during Friday's game
29 - Both the Gaels and Warriors totalled 29 shots on goal
7 - Mary Coughlin picked up her team-leading 7th assist of the season on Emily Jukosky's goal
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will look to end their three-game slide when they return to the Memorial Centre on Saturday evening to host the Laurier Golden Hawks. Puck-drop is set for 7:30 p.m.