Matthew Holmberg held an emergency team meeting on the weekend.

After the women’s hockey team lost 7-0 at home to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday night, the head coach got his players together to discuss their new year slump.

The Gaels responded with a 1-0 win against the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday, only their second win in nine games.

“I wanted to talk about how we’re going to choose to respond to the last couple weeks and to [the Laurier loss],” he said. “And I thought the team did a good job of controlling their emotions [against the Warriors.].”

On Friday, the Golden Hawks scored on Gaels goaltender Karissa Savage just 42 seconds into the game — from their own end.

“It was … one of those holy crap moments” Savage said. “I lost sight of [the puck] for two seconds … It sucked to be a goalie in that moment.”

Savage said the Golden Hawks’ constant pressure prevented her from regaining her focus.

“You never have a chance to make a mistake with them … they know how to capitalize on every [one] we make.”

The Golden Hawks put four more goals past Savage before she was pulled in the third period. Mel Dodd-Moher let in two goals on nine shots in relief. The Golden Hawks outshot the Gaels 39-23.

“Once the score is up like that it’s hard for the team to stay focused,” Holmberg said.

On Saturday against the Warriors, the Gaels claimed the lead early when OUA leading scorer Morgan McHaffie scored the only goal of the game 3:03 into the first period.

The Warriors had five power-play chances to tie the game but the Gaels penalty-kill didn’t allow a goal.

“I can’t say enough about the players who were on the ice,” Holmberg said. “Especially to [kill] a five on three … and a penalty at the end of the game … it was huge.”

Dodd-Moher made 20 saves for her first shutout of the season.

With two regular season games remaining, the Gaels are tied for fourth place in the OUA with the York Lions. This weekend, they travel to Toronto to play the last-place Ryerson Rams on Saturday and the third-place University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Sunday.