The York University Lions women's hockey team was defeated by the No. 9 nationally-ranked Nipissing Lakers by a score of 3-0 at Memorial Gardens in North Bay, Ont., on Friday afternoon.
 
It didn't take long for the hometown Lakers to take the lead in the contest as Laura McKenzie scored just 3:36 into the game. It would be the only goal of the first period as the Lions actually outshot the Lakers 8-6.
 
The Lakers continued to roll in the second period and added to their lead at 6:10 when Hunter Mosher scored for a 2-0 advantage. Just over 10 minutes later the Lakers stretched their lead to three on a goal by Brooklyn Irwin.
 
Despite outshooting the Lions 11-4 in the third, the Lakers did not add to their lead but it didn't matter as the Lions could not muster much offence themselves en route to their third time being shutout in four games. The Lakers, on the other hand, have now posted back-to-back wins without allowing a goal.
 
Lauren Dubie (London, Ont.) took the loss in net while making 22 saves on the 25 shots she faced. Her counterpart at Nipissing, Micaela Stutzki, stopped all 17 shots she faced for her first shutout of the season.
 
The Lions have already been eliminated from the playoffs and dropped to 4-2-13-4 with the loss. The Lakers are in a battle for first place in the OUA standings and are now tied with the Guelph Gryphons for top spot with 51 points heading into their final game of the season, however the Gryphons have a game in hand.
 
The Lions will play their final game of the season on Saturday afternoon when they head to Sudbury, Ont., to face the Laurentian Voyageurs in a game beginning at 3:50pm.