The Western field hockey team travelled all the way to Kingston last weekend to play their last three regular games of the season. Suffering a loss to Toronto and unable to sink a goal against Queens, the Mustangs still finished off their season with a win against Guelph. Following the weekend's action the Mustangs now finish in fourth place in the OUA with a spot in next weekend's OUA Championships.
 
On Saturday, the Mustangs opened against former OUA champions, the University of Toronto. Despite working hard, the Mustangs were unable to get into the groove of the game and conceded a difficult 5-0 loss.
 
Early Sunday morning, the Mustangs played weekend hosts, Queen's. The Gaels, who were already out of playoff contention, started the game at high intensity. Centre defense and co-captain Katie Feagan, and sweeper Karly Bryson kept the ball out of the Mustangs net with good defensive play. Despite great balls out of the backfield from Megan Duffy and a solid 70-minutes of hockey from all players, the Mustangs were unable to score against the fired-up Queen’s Gaels. However the Gaels were also unable to score against Western as goalkeeper Shanshan Tian earned the shut-out for the Mustangs in the 0-0 draw. 
 
The Mustangs played the second place Guelph Gryphons late Sunday afternoon. The Mustangs took advantage of their fitness to come out firing against the Gryphons. In a scramble in front of the net, Anne Wozney fought hard to put the Mustangs on the scoreboard first. The Gryphons retaliated with two goals to finish off the half putting the Mustangs down 2-1 at half time. The score at halftime did not phase the Mustangs as early in the second half, forward Katelynn Roganowicz flicked the ball top left corner tying the score 2-2. Hard work from all 16 players allowed the Mustangs to dominate the Gryphons in the second half while great patience and tackles from midfield Lauren Mackenzie and co-captain Safia Mohammed led to many scoring opportunities. Third-year German exchange student Anna Bukta scored two goals off of penalty corners to give the ‘Stangs a convincing two goal lead which they would not relinquish, making it a 4-2 final for Western.
 
Co-captain Jessica Bryce is proud of the team to have finished the regular season off with a win. “The character we showed against Queen’s and Guelph proves that we’re definitely ready to bring it at OUAs next weekend – we’re aiming for a medal and a spot at CIS nationals.”
 
Head Coach Jeff Pacheco said, “our hard work all season has started to pay off. It definitely showed in our last game of the regular season versus Guelph. If we continue to play well in all areas of the field we can find ourselves creating a CIS berth for the Western program, which hasn’t been there for some time.”
 
The Mustangs head into the OUA Championships as  the fourth seed taking place this weekend at the University of Waterloo. Western faces fifth place York University in the quarter-finals on Friday, October 26.