LONDON, Ont. - The Mustangs duo of Jenna White and Lauren Winquist propelled the Western women's soccer team to their first playoff victory of the 2013 season, with a 2-0 shutout win over the Guelph Gryphons Sunday afternoon at Huron Flats Field.
 
"It's [the win] a great feeling," said Mustangs head coach Martin Painter. "It's been a great season and I'm really proud of the team and the performance that we saw today."
 
The Mustangs wrapped up their undefeated regular season last week with a 2-0 victory over the Gryphons. And after racking up both a win and a tie, over the Gryphons in regular season play, it was clear that Guelph was looking to prove themselves matching up against the Mustangs for the their third contest of the season.
 
In the opening half of the play both teams fought hard to take control of the play, however the Mustangs' strong offensive presence managed to control the play in the Gryphons end of the pitch for a large part of the half. The Mustangs generated a number of scoring opportunities throughout the half; however, it was White who put the purple and white on the scoreboard, when she launched the ball into the top left corner of the Gryphons net on a penalty shot. The Mustangs went into the break with a 1-0 advantage over the Gryphons.
 
In the second half of the contest, it was the Gryphons' who turned up the offensive by controlling the play in the Mustangs end of the field and fighting hard to cut the Mustangs lead. Mustang goaltender Tori Edgar shut out all shots coming her way though. In the 83^rd minute of play, Western's Becca Jefferson carried the ball deep into the Gryphons end and made an impressive crossover pass to  Winquist who netted the second Western goal of the game to widen the Mustangs' advantage to 2-0.  The Gryphons battled hard down to the very last second of the play, but were unable to put themselves onto the scoreboard and walked off the pitch with a 2-0 defeat.
 
"We are going to prepare like any other week. We're going to train all week long and make sure our players are mentally and physically ready to go for Friday," said Painter.
 
With the victory, the Mustangs now hold a 1-0 record for the 2013 playoff season, and will advance to the Final Four where they will host the lowest-ranked East Division team on Friday, November 1. Game time is 7:00 p.m. at Huron Flats Field.