HAMILTON, Ont. - Western's women's and open Ultimate Frisbee teams travelled to Hamilton, Ont., over the weekend for the Steeltown Classic with hopes of winning a bid to nationals but fell just short, finishing third and fourth, respectively. 

The open team started Saturday with two games where their depth showed. They were able to rest their top players and easily beat both UOIT and McMaster 'B' 15-3. Handler Joseph Ip impressed, making athletic defensive plays and rookie Derek Safnuk had a huge sky.

The big game of the day was against the top seed in the University of Toronto pool. The Mustangs started off slow, going down two quick breaks, but recovered and started trading points. Captain Iain Mackenzie came down with a huge sky over fellow Team Canada member, Nathan Hirst. Unfortunately, they weren't able to close the gap and ended up losing the game 11-8.

This put Western in a pre-quarters game against Waterloo 'B', where they again used their depth to secure a 15-5 win and earn a spot in the quarters Sunday morning. 

The quarterfinal saw the Mustangs face off against last year's Steeltown winners, the Waterloo Warriors. The offense operated smoothly, consistently beating their matchups. Normally on the offensive line, captain Wesley Tin moved to the d-line to match up with Waterloo's best handler, coming up with a number of big defensive plays and a low release backhand to cutter Teagan Boyle for the game's first break. Western went on to win 10-9 to move onto Queen's in the semi-finals.

Facing the top seed in the tournament in the semi-finals, the Mustangs knew that it would be a tough, but winnable game. From the start, it was a physical contest, with lots of foul calls and heated arguments. Jason Lin and Ethan Chochinov were able to come down with huge scores to put Western ahead temporarily, but Queen's pulled out the 10-8 win.

Western moved onto the bronze medal game and lost a close 11-10 match against a talented Guelph team. Rookie handler Keith Chow impressed all weekend with his poise and patience.

The Mustangs will have a quick week before they are off again, travelling to Kingston, Ont. for Easterns on October 3 and 4.