LONDON, Ont. – Paige Farries's try just fifteen minutes after the opening kick would end up serving as the game winner, but the following 65 minutes secured the third purple and white blowout in as many weeks. Saturday's 49-12 victory moves Western to 3-1 this season, while the Golden Hawks are at 1-3.
 
Paige Farries topped the scoresheet for Western with four tries to continue to lead the team in points for the season. Over the last three games, Western has outscored opponents 112-19, with 50 coming from Farries.
 
The Mustangs wasted no time in showing off for the Reunion Weekend fans, recording three tries in the first fifteen. Case and Farries each found the in-goal area, to give the Mustangs a solid lead.
 
Western kept rolling over the Golden Hawks throughout the remainder of the first half, with Farries adding another try alongside Veronica Harrigan and Lexi Smith.
 
Laurier's half of the scoreboard remained blank for the initial forty minutes as they were unable to break through a solid purple and white defense.
 
"I thought Harrigan was amazing defensively," said Mustangs head coach John Weller. "I think she made some great tackles, played the full 80. Even in the last two or three minutes she was making a tackle, getting up and getting the next tackle, and the next one. I though her effort was outstanding."
 
Offensively, it was Smith who stood out for Weller.
 
"When Lexi was playing we had a lot of good pressure kicks," noted Weller. "We managed to turn possession into points. Paige and Nikki played really well, but Lexi is really the glue that keeps our offense together. She was outstanding."
 
Returning for the second half, the Mustangs refused to slow down as they pushed another three tries through before the sixty-minute mark. Farries was responsible for two, while Landon Thomson recorded her first score of the season.
 
It wasn't until the final twenty minutes that the Golden Hawks were able to put points on the board, with Juliette Lewis finding the purple and white in-goal area after strong runs from Chloe Graves and Abby Stacy. Danielle Mitchell added another two points with the convert.
 
Just minutes after assisting on the first Laurier try of the afternoon, Graves landed a try of her own to bring up the Golden Hawk score and end the game at 49-12 in favour of the Mustangs.
 
"They started to really play with us in the last twenty minutes, they decided to play and we were having trouble. […] They started sending harder runners, I think that's the biggest thing. They didn't get on offence a lot in the first half."
 
Western is back in action next week, when they head to Hamilton to take on the defending CIS Champions in the McMaster Marauders. The opening kick is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
"Obviously it's going to be a battle," said Farries. "I think the biggest thing that we need to watch out for is their defence. Our defence can take their offence, so now we have to start developing our offence to send more strike plays into their defence."