HAMILTON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs women's lacrosse team began their OUA title defence this past weekend tying and losing in two close games. 

The Mustangs tied Queen's 9-9 and lost 6-5 to Laurier on Saturday Sept 18 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. 

Against Queen's, the Mustangs battled back to a 9-9 draw against the Gaels on Saturday morning
Queen's played a strong first half against the Mustangs and led 5-3 at half and had extended the lead to 8-3 at the 15 minute mark in the second half. 

But the Mustangs were resilient and answered with six unanswered goals to take a 9-8 lead but Queen's managed to tie the game with under three minutes remaining to get the draw.

Nicole Pullen of Orangeville, Ont., freshman Kristen Stafford of London and Larissa Boychuk of Mississauga led the Mustangs offensive attack with two goals. Lauren Crape of Calgary had a goal and two assists with Adrianna Clapp of Brooklin, Ont., and Alyssa Childs of Whitby, Ont., also scoring. 

Caitlin Mancuso of Pelham, Ont., made nine saves on 18 shots in the Mustangs' net.

In the second game of the day the Mustangs held a 3-2 lead over Laurier at the half. But Western could not get their shots past Laurier's goaltender Hanna Burnett and lost 6-5. 

The Mustangs outshot Laurier 26-18. In her second straight start, Mancuso was very strong in net for Western.
Boychuk was able to get two goals past Burnett and Pullen, Childs and Stafford each netted a goal apiece.
The Hawks led 2-1 and scored in the final minute, then stalled the ball to hold on for victory.

Overall, coach Dave Hastings said he was impressed with his team's performance over the weekend. 

"It was an excellent start for us against two of the OUA's strongest teams. We showed strong defence, strong goaltending and some good offence," Hastings said. "We carried much of the play this weekend so it's just a matter of putting it together all at once and staying consistent. We will continue to improve as the season goes on."

Western also hosted Canada's Under-19 team in an exhibition game on Sunday at Huron Flats fields and lost 19-2. Crape is on the 24-player roster for the squad and played with the national junior team on Sunday on defence. The final U-19 roster will be named in January, 2011. Isabella Copland and Stafford scored Western's goals in this exhibition game. Cassie Raglan paced the junior national team with three goals and three assists.

The Mustangs will be back on the road again this weekend with a busy slate of games. They play UOIT at Varsity stadium in Toronto on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. and then Western has two games at Laurier in Waterloo, Ont. on Sunday Sept. 26. Sunday morning at 9 a.m. the Mustangs will play Guelph and then that afternoon at 3 p.m. they will get another chance to defeat Queen's.