They did it the hard way in Round 1 and they'll have to do the same if they want a shot at the McCaw Cup.

The Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team will need to win back-to-back games at Queens this weekend against the Gaels if they want to advance to the championship game for the second straight year after suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in overtime in Game 1 Wednesday night.

Despite controlling most of the game and dominating at times, the Lakers couldn't find the game-winner and it was the Gaels who capitalized on their chance late in the first overtime period.

Queens opened the scoring in the first period, finding the back of the net just three minutes into the game to take the lead.

The goal was the first one Lakers goalie Danika Ranger had surrendered in the playoffs after recording back-to-back shutout wins against Ryerson in Round 1.

Nipissing responded, however, tying the game just over seven minutes later.

Jade Gauthier buried her own rebound on the power play to even things up.

Maria Dominico and Zosia Davis earned assists on the qualizer.

After a scoreless second period, Nipissing took the lead early in the third.

A point shot by Katelyn Heppner was redirected by Jette Derenoski and landed on the stick of Sam Strassburger at the side of the net.

Strassburger made no mistake tucking it into the net to put Nipissing up 2-1.

Less than two minutes later, the Gaels tied the game on the power play, pushing this contest to overtime.

In the extra frame, the Lakers controlled the play and managed 13 shots on net, but were unable to score, while Queens cashed in on their 11 th shot of the period, scoring to give them the win.

Ranger finished with 27 saves, while Queens goalie Stephanie Pascal was stellar all game, making 38 saves in almost 80 minutes of work.

Game 2 of the series goes Friday night at 7:30pm in Kingston and Game 3 is Saturday night at 7:30pm in Napanee.