LONDON, Ont., - The Mustangs women's soccer team claimed the silver medal at the OUA Championship this afternoon, losing a hard fought 1-0 (3-1 penalty kicks) contest against the Laurier Golden Hawks at Huron Flats Field.
 
"I thought we defended well over all and we needed just a little more quality in the attacking third and a couple more chances to execute towards the final pass or the final shot," said Mustangs head coach Martin Painter. "We're going to Nationals and if we had to lose a game, today was the day to lose."
 
As the Final Four dwindled down to the final two after Friday night's action that saw the Mustangs down Queen's 1-0 (3-2 on penalty kicks), while the Laurier Golden Hawks captured a 1-0 (5-4 on penalty kicks) victory over the Carlton Ravens it was no surprise that Sunday's final came down to a shootout.
 
The Golden Hawks have remained just below the Mustangs in the OUA West Division standings for a large part of the season, and the two teams are familiar with one another, having played each other twice throughout the year, where the Mustangs walked away with both a 0-0 draw and a 4-2 victory.
 
In the opening half the Mustangs made their offensive presence known as they controlled the ball in the Golden Hawks end of the field for the majority of the action. The purple and white generated a number of scoring opportunities for themselves however Golden Hawks goaltender Katrina Ward made a few key saves to keep the Mustangs off of the scoreboard to send the game into the break with a scoreless first half.
 
In the early stages of the second half the Mustangs continued to hold their offensive pressure however the Golden Hawks had the closest scoring chance of the game when Mustangs goaltender Tori Edgar stepped up to challenge an oncoming Laurier forward, when the Golden Hawk dribbled around Edgar and took a shot that went wide passed the far post, and created a scramble deep in front of the Mustangs net. Despite efforts from both sides, neither the Mustangs nor the Golden Hawks could put themselves onto the scoreboard, sending the match into extra time.
 
In the two 15-minute periods of extra time, the Golden Hawks continued to control the play and generated the majority of the scoring chances, however neither team was able to score, sending the contest to penalty kicks.
 
Tori Edgar scored on the Mustangs first attempt of the shootout round, unfortunately for Western she'd be the lone Mustang to score while Kelsey Tikka, Jacqueline Lence, and Sarah Farano each scored to give Laurier the OUA title.
 
"Our goal is to win a national championship and we've gotten ourselves into a position where we have a chance to do that," said Painter. "The loss today was not great and we're not happy about it but we got our loss out of the way and every other team that is going to Nationals I believe has lost a game this year."
 
The Mustangs now head to the CIS Women's Soccer Championship, hosted by the University of Toronto, running from November 7-10.