The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team fell 5-4 to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Sunday (Jan. 18) night at Varsity Arena.

The first period saw first-year Blues goaltender Jillian Matthews continue her strong rookie season. Turning aside Ridgebacks scoring chances with some of the best of her 20 saves in the game to keep the score even. The scoreless deadlock was broken late in the frame when Emily Harrison converted on a breakaway.

Toronto wasted no time getting back on even footing in the second, as third-year forward Christina Alexiou buried her eighth goal of the season with a wrist shot that went off the post and into the back of the net. Ontario Tech answered back with a quick goal from Cassandra Delves before adding a pair of goals to their total from Ella Dickson and Harrie Jones. Late in the period, U of T showed signs of life when second-year forward Jasmine Comeau fired home third-year forward Abby Whitworth's rebound to pull Toronto back within two-goals going into the third period.

The Blues played with urgency in the third, striking 33 seconds in when third-year forward Taylor Delahey found the back of the net. Building off their momentum, the Blue and White kept pressing, forcing Ontario Tech to take on a penalty. Capitalizing on the power play was Whitworth as she extending her OUA goal scoring lead with her 16^th goal of the 2025-26 campaign and her third point of the night.

Midway through the final frame, Ontario Tech retook the lead as Jones netted her second goal of the game with a power play marker. From there, U of T pushed hard as Matthews made big saves to keep the one-goal difference unchanged. Despite a final push with the net empty, the Blues weren't able to find an equalizer before the final buzzer.

The Blues will look to rebound when they take on the Windsor Lancers on Friday (Jan. 23) night in a road matchup. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on oua.tv.