LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs were stopped twice on great drives by the Waterloo defence, as the Warriors scored 19 unanswered second-half points to defeat the No. 7 ranked Mustangs 19-5 on Saturday at the UWO Rugby Fields.

Liz Wilson of Ottawa scored the lone Western try in the dying moments of the game, capitalizing on a Waterloo turnover deep in their own territory.

The teams were deadlocked in a scoreless draw at the half. The Warriors stopped a near full-length-field run from Lori Josephson just five feet from the touch-line to keep the game tied.

Waterloo dominated the majority of the second half, scoring after a great opening possession, in which Western stopped them four times near the touch-line before Waterloo eventually scored with senior Caitlin Martin pushing the ball in for a try. Abbey Gingerich booted one of her two converts to make it 7-0 Waterloo five minutes into the second half.

Ten minutes later, freshman Valerie Bigelow scored to cap off a great passing sequence from one side of the field to the other, beating a Western defender to score to extend the lead to 12-0.

Western pushed hard while taking risks late in the half, Waterloo rookie Erika Schroeder made Western pay for a turnover, scoring from the off-wing to stretch the lead to 17-0. Gingerich scored another convert to put Waterloo up 19-0 before Wilson's late try cut the lead to 19-5 for the Warriors.

Head coach Natascha Wesch said while she was disappointed with the effort from her young team and that there were many good learning opportunities in the game and that "sometimes you need to lose a game to realize what needs to change." 

Wesch added that she was really pleased with the solid play of freshman Josephson.

"Today we focused on the process and this was a good lesson for us," Wesch said. "If we take this and build on it we will do well."

The Mustangs now prepare for two-time defending OUA champion Guelph in an upcoming road contest next Saturday Sept. 25 at 1 p.m.