LONDON, Ont. – Battling against the defending OUA champions and inclement weather, the Mustangs dropped their first game of the season 14-9 on Saturday afternoon to Queen's at Alumni Field.
 
With the loss, the purple and white record sits at 3-1 while the Queen's record improves to 4-1.
 
"I think the weather contributed a lot," said head coach David Knowles. "They prepared for this weather, I don't know if we were quite mentally ready for it. We dropped too many balls, turned too many balls over to [Queens]. They picked it up and held possession. They kept everything tight."
 
Mark Denton led the Mustangs in scoring for the fourth straight game, with his nine points the only ones on the board for Western.
 
Queen's got down to business as soon as the first whistle sounded, immediately pushing the Mustangs down near their own in-goal line. Playing a tight defence, there were able to fend off the tricolour's attacks until the ninth minute, when Queen's Lucas Rumball broke through the Mustang line to score the first and only try of the game.
 
With the first points up on the board and the rivalry between Queen's and Western alive and well, both teams turned up the aggression.
 
Five minutes after the initial try the Gaels had extended their lead to 0-8 with a penalty goal from Alex Colborne.
 
Denton had the chance to counter Colborne's goal three minutes later with a penalty goal of his own, and a second successful goal at the 20-minute mark.
 
With the first half coming to an end, both teams were scrambling to change the two-point difference. A final first half penalty from the Gales allowed Denton to send his third penalty goal of the game through the uprights in the final second of the half to put Western up by one point.
 
Returning from the half with a 9-8 score, both teams became overzealous in their attempts to add another five to the scoreboard. While Queen's picked up a few more penalties, only those from Western gave way to additional points. 
 
The only points scored in the second half came off purple and white penalties. Capitalizing on their chance to take back the lead, Queen's sent both attempted penalty goals through the uprights.

The purple and white almost managed to match Queen's score in the final ten minutes of the game, spending the final moments playing along the tricolour's in-goal line. However, they were ultimately unable to break away from the Gael defence.
 
At the close of eighty minutes, Queen's was up 14-9.
 
"I expect for us to keep building," said Knowles about the remainder of the season. "We're getting better week in and week out. Today was another step forward, it was a tight loss to the defending champions, but it was a really tight loss. We were in this game for eighty minutes."
 
The Mustangs now look to Friday, October 9 when they will head to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues at 7 p.m.