After finishing the regular season in third place in the OUA’s Shields Division, the Western Mustangs women’s rugby team headed to nearby Waterloo to take on the Warriors in an OUA quarterfinal matchup. Home turf proved to be an advantage for the Warriors as they came away with a 24-7 victory.

Sunday’s matchup was the second between the two squads in as many weeks as they faced off the week before in London with the Warriors earning a 10-5 victory to secure home field for the quarterfinal.

Waterloo opened the scoring only 15 minutes into the game on a try from Natasha Vrablic to put Waterloo up 5-0. The Warriors wouldn’t wait long to extend their lead, as Emily Sanderson recorded a try at the 20 minute mark before Rachel Brown added another at 29 minutes. Vrablic added the converts on both to give Waterloo a 19-0 lead at the half.

The Warriors would add another try before Danielle Spice would put the Mustangs on the board, scoring a try midway through the second half. Meaghann Buitinga would add the convert to close the gap to 24-7, but unfortunately for the Mustangs the Waterloo defence held on for the victory.

Waterloo now moves onto the OUA semi-final, taking on the Queen’s Gaels next week in Kingston.

Western finishes their season with the best record since 2009 and placed two players in the top 20 in OUA scoring. London native Buitinga’s 18 converts were good for 10th place, while co-captain Lori Josephson coming in just behind at 11th with 35 points on seven tries.