In their first game of their Quarterfinal series, Queen's Women's Hockey dropped a tight 5-2 contest to the Nipissing Lakers.

Through out the match, both teams went neck-in-neck in their offensive efforts; the Gaels secured 38 shots, and the Lakers claimed 42.

Queen's lit up the scoreboard first at 15:50 as Mikayla Cranney (Arts & Science), assisted by Sara Di Filippo (Concurrent Education/Arts), beat the Laker's defense and went top shelf.

While Nipissing maintained an aggressive offensive presence, the Gael's goaltender Emma Tennent (Mechanical Engineering) locked the Lakers down, rejecting all their shots in the first period. Tennent closed out the regular season atop the OUA in total saves.

Early in the second, Nipissing converted on the power play and tied the match up at one a piece. The Lakers went on to find two more goals in the second the bring them ahead 3-1.

In the final moments of the second, Melissa Parton (Arts & Science) buried one into the back of the Laker's net, after a pass across the net from Rebecca Thompson (Environmental Science).

Nipissing opened up scoring in the third, only one minute in, again converting on the power play. They added a final empty net goal at 17:55 to hand Queen's a 5-2 loss.

With the loss, the Gaels trail the Lakers 0-1 heading into the second game of the series. They return to action on Friday, Feb. 28, at 7pm in North Bay. Fans can tune in on oua.tv.