WATERLOO, Ont. - The Western Mustangs men's soccer team made a statement today.

After squeaking into the OUA playoffs by having Laurier lose to Brock in the final day of competition, Western the No. 6 seed in the OUA West, smashed third-place Waterloo 6-0 on Oct. 28.

With the win, Western advances to the OUA semifinals against the nationally No. 2 ranked York Lions on Oct. 31.

"The boys have been on the verge of this all year," said coach Patrick Barnett. "Now is the time is right. The boys had a great game today. We just executed."

"Everything we had been hoping to happen, panned out and clicked. We truly started to fire on all cylinders," Barnett said, adding Western dressed a different line-up with a new look at midfield and overall "toughened up a bit."

"All season long we've been generating opportunities and creating chances, our attacking plays have been good up to the finishing point," Barnett added. "But today was just an explosion of offence. The guys had the right touch, and the last touch seemed to work today."

Western had a two-goal performance from last year's CIS rookie of the year Pat Mroczek (St. Catharines, Ont.), with one goal each from four different rookies Vince Caminiti (London, Ont.), Camilo Gonzales (London, Ont.) Dominic Bell (Waterloo, Ont.) and Mike Marcoccia (London, Ont.)

The Mustangs enjoyed a 4-0 cushion at the half and sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Murdoch (Burlington, Ont.) earned the clean sheet.

The men's season continues on Oct. 31 with an afternoon game against the Lions.

Western played York on Sunday Oct. 25 and was tied with them at the half 0-0 - and could have had a lead on two great scoring opportunities in the opening half. Western believes they can knock off the giant if they can finish on offence like they did against Waterloo today.

"We need to stay focussed and stay tough," Barnett said. " We need to play tough, solid defence, and execute on our chances."

McMaster travels to play at Windsor in the other OUA West men's semifinal on Oct. 31.