LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs scored three first-half goals en route to a 3-1 victory over McMaster in the OUA West semifinal at TD Waterhouse Stadium on a windy, cool afternoon Saturday Oct. 30.

Eric Amato (Toronto) scored the opening goal three minutes into the match, his first of two in the half, driving a ball past McMaster's Matt Grant from 15 yards out, as the ball curled and skimmed along the turf surface past the Marauders goalkeeper.

Amato's goal came off a poor McMaster clearance inside their own 18-yard box.

McMaster responded almost immediately, equalizing the score at 1-1 six minutes later when Anthony Costa made Western pay for poor passing in their own zone. Costa intercepted it, then he split two Mustangs defenders and beating Mustangs goalkeeper Andrew Murdoch low to his side as he tried to come out and create a low-percentage angle.

But Western scored twice late in the first half and never looked back.

The game-winning goal came off another McMaster turnover with 12 minutes left when striker Niko Mavrikos booted the ball past Grant to make it 2-1.

Amato tallied his second of the game taking a nice pass from Vince Caminiti and driving it past Grant to make it 3-1. The play originated off a quick throw-in play and Caminiti made a great horizontal pass to Amato who drove it home past Grant.

Western led 3-1 at the half.

Ten minutes into the second half, Caminiti made a great play to set up Mike Sawchuk and Western nearly went up 4-1. But Sawchuk could not catch up with the ball which had great pace along the turf and his chance to connect with an open net in front of him passed.

Minutes later, Caminiti had an opportunity of his own. He made a nice move after a good sequence of Western passing, quickly switching the ball, finding open space and striking the ball and curling it just wide.

The physicality of the game picked up in the final 20 minutes.

Western controlled the play and possession and held off any McMaster threats to win.

The Mustangs advance to the OUA Final Four tournament at York University next weekend.