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The No. 4 University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team took down the visiting York Lions 6-2 on Friday night (Feb. 19) at Varsity Arena, securing second place and home-ice advantage through to at least the OUA semi-final round.
 
With only one regular season game remaining, the Blues improve to 12-4-4-3 and move past the Western Mustangs and Nipissing Lakers into second place.
 
Taking advantage of an undisciplined Lions squad, veteran forward Jacqueline Scheffel opened the scoring for Toronto on the power play midway through the first with a beautiful finish at the side of the net. The goal marked Sheffel's 22nd marker in her five-year Varsity Blues career.
 
The strong play for U of T continued as Taylor Day notched her 13th goal of the season late in the opening frame, finishing off a big rebound from a Rebecca Bourgeois point shot to make it 2-0 Varsity Blues after 20 minutes.
 
In the second, the Lions continued to find themselves in penalty trouble and Day took advantage again, scoring her second of the night just as Toronto went on the power play following some four-on-four action. With the two-goal night, Day sustains her torrent push up the OUA scoring leaderboard extending her current streak to six games.
 
Shortly after, second-year forward Meagan O'Brien added to the Varsity Blues lead, sending a perfect shot over the shoulder of Lions goalie Eva Hall, making it 4-0 after two periods.  
 
Second-year forward Lauren Straatman and team captain Kristi Riseley rounded out the Blues scoring in the third period. Straatman added a powerplay goal seven minutes into the frame and Riseley potted the empty netter. However, the Lions would spoil the shutout with two late goals in the final minutes of play.
 
Varsity Blues goaltender Valenica Yordanov was outstanding on the night, making 18 saves on the night, including several spectacular efforts in the second period.
 
The Varsity Blues honoured graduating seniors Caitlin Maikawa, April Looije, Jacqueline Sheffel and Sonja Weidenfelder in a special pre-game ceremony.
 

WHKY grads Caitlin Maikawa, April Looije, Jacqueline Scheffel and Sonja Weidenfelder! WE ALL #BLEEDBLUE pic.twitter.com/1GIlsJ4Jwf

— Varsity Blues (@Varsity_Blues) February 20, 2016

 
The Varsity Blues will now take to the road to end their season against the UOIT Ridgebacks tomorrow night (Feb. 20). Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.
 
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