LONDON, Ont. – Three tries from Mike Penczak helped lead the Western Mustangs men's rugby team to a 29-22 victory over the Guelph Gryphons in an OUA Semi-Final matchup on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.

With the win the Mustangs advance to the OUA Finals for the fifth consecutive season while the Gryphons will play McMaster for the OUA Bronze Medal next weekend.

There was fierce competition throughout the entire game with both teams fighting to advance to the Finals. Guelph scored their first try and conversion thirteen minutes into the game and Western quickly responded with three consecutive tries, one from James Ojo and two within six minutes from Penczak, and two conversions from Ojo to give the Mustangs a19-12 halftime lead. 

The Western squad held strong in the second half and quickly moved the ball up the field for two successive tries from fourth-year Justin Chan and another from Penczak.  The Gryphons answered with two more tries late in the game but it wasn't enough, and the Mustangs walked away with a 29-22 vctory.

Now moving forward to Finals against Queen's next weekend, Mustangs head coach Steve Thomas commented, "I'm confident, I think we have a good squad, we just need to get a bit sharper".

The Mustangs will continue their quest for OUA gold in Kingston against the Gaels for the OUA Finals on Saturday, November 2.