LONDON, Ont. - After upsetting the No. 1 nationally ranked York Lions 1-0 on Oct. 31, and smashing the Waterloo Warriors 6-0 in the OUA quarter-final, the Western Mustangs could be the most dangerous sixth-place team in OUA men's soccer history.
The Western Mustangs enter the OUA Final Four at Toronto this weekend, Nov. 7-8, on a streak.
They will face OUA East champion Toronto at 2 p.m. on Nov. 7 in the second OUA semifinal at Varsity Stadium. Carleton, the second seed from the OUA East, faces McMaster which upset Windsor on the road to enter the OUA championships as the top seed from the West. The first semifinal will kickoff at 11:30 a.m.
Semifinal winners will both advance to the CIS national soccer championships hosted by Trinity Western on Nov. 13-15, and will face off for the OUA title on Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Semifinal losers will play for OUA bronze at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 8.
All games will be played at the Varsity Centre at the University of Toronto located on Bloor Street West, just west of Queen's Park between Avenue and St. George Street.
All games will be broadcast by SSN Canada (
www.ssncanada.ca)
The Mustangs knocked off defending CIS champions, the No. 1 ranked York Lions, 1-0 on Oct. 31 on a goal by Nick Agam (Oakville, ON) off a rebound from a free kick in the 86th minute.
Andrew Murdoch (Burlington, ON) was named the player of the game, and made over 10 saves for the shutout for Western.
"You know for us we've believed in this squad all year," said Western coach Patrick Barnett. "There's huge satisfcation coming through and beating the defending national champions. We believed in the squad, we know we were capable of it. It's really gratifying to see the boys believe in themselves."
While Murdoch was solid and Agam provided the game-winning goal, Barnett credited Western's defence for their solid performance in what was a physical game.
Barnett said veterans Eamonn Hardy (Kitchener, ON) and Mark Bennett (Brantford, ON) at the centre back positions and Evan Kadet (Oakville, ON) at the left full-back spot were solid, along with the young enthusiasm of Dominic Bell (Waterloo, ON) and Vince Caminiti (London, ON) at the right full-back spot.
"We have balance on defence. We have experience in middle and left side and it's been team defence," Barnett said. "We've been working a lot on our shape and how to support the ball. We've been following through with the game plan. We played strong defence today as a team and that's how you win championships."
"Nick Agam played probably the best game we've seen him play. It was really appropriate that he scored, he made a big difference in the game with his tireless work," Barnett said.
Jarek Whiteman (Brampton, Ont.) was assessed a yellow card for an errant tackle on a Mustangs player as he carried the ball into the Lions half of the field, and Western was awarded a free kick. Lions goalkeeper Alim Karim (Scarborough, Ont.) stopped the first shot off a Caminitti strike of the ball and the rebound came onto Agam's foot. He slammed it in for the game-winning goal.
The Mustangs had hit the post just minutes earlier and had been building momentum to the late stages of the game.
The Lions (8-2-3) ran into a continually improving and efficient Western defence.
Western has now won two straight in the post season, including a 6-0 OUA West quarter-final win over Waterloo on Oct. 28.
The Mustangs (4-6-4) will now face Toronto in the OUA Final Four. With a win, Western qualifies for the CIS National Championships hosted by Trinity Western.
