Rookie forward Courtney Gardiner scored the game-winning goal with five seconds remaining on the clock to give the York University Lions women's hockey team a 3-2 victory over the Windsor Lancers at Canlan Ice Sports on Saturday afternoon.
 
Gardiner's tally, her second of the season, gave the Lions their third victory of the season as their record improved to 3-0-6-1. Windsor is still looking for its first regulation win of the year and sits at 0-1-7-1.
 
Both teams battled hard right from the start, but neither were able to get the puck in the net. This was finally broken by Brooke Anderson when she scored the first goal of the game at 7:47, giving the Lions an early lead. She was assisted by Sarah Power and Kelsey McHolm.
 
The Lancers added a goal of their own five minutes later on a power play, bringing the score to 1-1, where it would remain for the rest of the period. Emily Bowman scored this goal, and Larissa Borowiec and Reagan Kaufman assisted her.
 
In the second period, the Lions added another goal and took back the lead, this time on the power play. This goal was scored by Taylor Davison, and assisted by Chelsea Tucker and Erin Locke.
 
The Lancers were looking to keep things tied up, however, and Kennedy Snively added their second goal at 17:09, assisted by Borowiec and Lexi Contratto.
 
Towards the end of the third period, it looked like the game would be heading into overtime as neither team had taken the lead. With five seconds left on the clock, Gardiner was assisted by McHolm and Cynthia St-Cyr in scoring the winner.
 
The Lions take to the ice again Sunday, Nov. 19 when they travel to Waterloo, Ont., to take on the Waterloo Warriors at 2:30pm. The Lions will return to Canlan Ice Sports next weekend for back-to-back matches against the Nipissing Lakers on Saturday, Nov. 25 and the Laurentian Voyageurs on Sunday, Nov. 26. Puck drop is at 2pm both days.