OTTAWA – The Western Mustangs men’s water polo team is off to the semi-finals at the OUA Men’s Water Polo Championship after going 2-1 in group play, good for second place in their group. The team then took down the York Lions in the cross over round, securing a spot in the semi-finals on Sunday.

The Mustangs started off the tournament on Friday afternoon against the McMaster Marauders. Western got their weekend off to a good start, picking up a 14-12 victory over the Maruaders in a close contest.

Western wouldn’t have much time to celebrate the victory, facing off with the Toronto Varsity Blues a short while after their matchup with McMaster. The Varsity Blues spread the scoring around with four players each scoring three goals leading Toronto to a 14-6 victory. The win moved Toronto to 2-0 on the day while dropping Western to 1-1.

Day two saw the Mustangs take on the Queen’s Gaels in their final matchup of the group stage, eventually picking up an 11-6 victory and taking second place in Group B. The second place finish meant the Mustangs moved on to the next round, taking on the third place team from Group A, the York Lions.

In another close contest Western overcame the Lions 12-9 with Daniel Abraham scoring six of the team’s 12 goals. Abraham’s six goals against York combined with the three earlier in the day against Queen’s to make him the day’s top scorer with nine goals.

Western now moves on to the semi-final round, facing the defending champion Carleton Ravens tomorrow morning. The Ravens won both of their round robin games, outscoring their opponents 44-8 and securing a bye to the semi-finals.

Game time tomorrow is set for 9:00 a.m. with the winner taking on the winner of the Ottawa-Toronto semi-final at 3:30 p.m.