WINNIPEG — The No. 10-ranked UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey team fell 3-2 in overtime against the top-ranked host Manitoba Bisons Friday at Winnipeg's Wayne Fleming Arena. Natasha Kostenko's soaring goal propelled the defending national champions to the triumph, which extending their winning streak to seven games, and improved their record to 15-4-4-2.

UBC's record moves to 12-5-3-5, and the team remains in third place, eight points behind the Bisons and nine behind Alberta.

The Thunderbirds took a 2-0 lead before the hosts replied.

"About midway through the second period, they pushed back on us really hard and started coming at us hard. We did push back at times but it just wasn't enough to sustain momentum," said Thunderbirds head coach Graham Thomas. "We kind of got away from our game plan and started playing a little bit individual."

Goaltender Tory Micklash saved 24 shots in the game for the T-Birds, while Manitoba's Lauren Taraschuk stopped 16.
 

In the first period, Ireland Perrott left the penalty box, picked up a pass from Shay-Lee McConnell, and sauntered into the Bisons end before tossing the puck to Mikayla Ogrodniczuk who knocked it top shelf on Taraschuk to open the scoring. 

"I liked the first five minutes and the last five of the first period, it was the 10 in between that weren't so hot," said Manitoba head coach Sean Fisher. "Part of that is the ebbs and flows of the game, part of that is our opponent. UBC is big, fast, and physical. They come at you wave after wave."

In the second, on a power play, Rylind MacKinnon whipped a soaring puck past Taraschuk's shoulders to net the second goal of the night, sending the score to 2-0 for the visitors.
 

GOAL | A beautifully placed shot on the PP. Birds go up 2-0 pic.twitter.com/BWjgHzAjpT

— UBC Women's Hockey (@UBCWHKY) February 2, 2019

The Bisons were on the defensive for much of the second period, but got on the scoreboard with just about six minutes left. From the point, Lauryn Keen sniped a pass from Erica Rieder and Alexandra Anderson straight off the post and into the net with a ping, to cut Manitoba's deficit in half.

In the third, the home team surged again. With under six minutes left, the Bisons tied the game at 2-2 with Keen knocking the puck in off a scramble in front of the net.

Micklash made one of the best saves of the game with four minutes left to play from a 2-on-1 breakaway, as she reached out with her stick to shut down a rebound shot.

Kostenko's game winner would follow in overtime, coming at the 2:30 mark.

In tomorrow's matchup, Thomas said the Thunderbirds just have to refocus.

"We have to learn from it and get back to our process. Make sure that we're ready to play 60 minutes of hockey tomorrow night."

Both teams face off again Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT / 12 noon PT at Wayne Fleming Arena.