On a dark and overcast day in London the Western Mustangs women’s rugby team took the field against the Waterloo Warriors in a game that would determine who would host next weekend’s OUA quarterfinal. The Warriors came out on top 10-5, and will now host the Mustangs next weekend in Waterloo.

Coming off of a loss to the perennial powerhouse Guelph Gryphons the Mustangs were looking to rebound against the Warriors and claim second place in the OUA. Unfortunately for the Mustangs a few too many mistakes combined with a tough Waterloo defence to lead to the loss.

“The mental mistakes escalated and we never fixed it, we never got a handle on it,” said Western head coach Natascha Wesch. “That’s what it comes down to, it’s mental errors. We know how to do things. Isn’t that what differentiates the top from the bottom?”

Waterloo opened the scoring in the first half with a try from Megan Colwell before Natasha Vrablic added the convert to make it 7-0. Western would respond with a couple of good scoring chances late in the first half before Arielle Dubisette-Borrice punched through the Waterloo defence to cut Waterloo’s lead to two heading into halftime.

Waterloo contained the play in the Mustangs half of the field for the majority of the second half and Vrablic widened the Warriors lead with a penalty goal midway through the final frame. Western made a final push late in the game, but it wasn’t enough, and Waterloo came away with a 10-5 victory.

With the loss the Mustangs finish third in the Shields Division and will now travel to Waterloo next weekend for a playoff showdown with the Warriors. 

“The start of the game will be different,” said Wesch on next week’s return match. “We’re going to have people that are injured back, we’re going to have our regular lineup back, and hopefully that takes care of some of the confidence pieces. Really the people that are on the field now have to perform and do the work.”