LONDON, Ont. – For the fourth time in as many years the Mustangs have secured the opportunity to fight for an OUA medal, recording a 76-0 Quarterfinal victory over the Brock Badgers on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
 
The win allows Western to continue their pursuit of a medal in the semi-finals, while Brock's season comes to an end.

"Our team performed really well today," said Lexi Smith. "We came out and in the first five minutes of the game we were on it. We were rucking really hard, trying to turn over the ball and that translated into some early tries for us."
 
It was the usual suspects generating points for the Mustangs, with point leaders Veronica Harrigan, Paige Farries, Nikki Case all finding the in-goal area alongside Hilary Dingman, Olivia Murphy, and Kaitlin Eckert. Lexi Smith added eight converts, to give the Mustangs their largest margin of victory this season.
 
"There's so many people who played really well," noted head coach John Weller. "Lexi was good, Nikki got the ball in lots of space, but there's people doing hard work all around the field like Jessie Strong, a lot of work that doesn't necessarily rewarded or noticed. The second rows did a good job also. The forward pack did really well to build a platform for us to score those points on." 
 
The Mustangs opened the scoring early, with Dingman recording a try just five minutes into the first half. Before the close of the first forty, Farries and Harrigan would add one try each, while Case landed two. With the four converts of Smith, the Mustangs headed into the half with a 40-point advantage.
 
Returning for the second half, the Mustangs maintained pressure on the Badgers to add another 36 points. Case was responsible for 15, while Farries, Eckert, and Murphy added five each. Smith followed up with three successful converts.
 
While the Mustangs offensive power was evenly spread throughout the game, Chelsea Brathwaite stood out as the greatest force on the Badger roster. The Therapeutic Recreation student was consistently able to open holes and push through the purple and white coverage.
 
"In their forward pack they had quite a few strong, built girls who took the ball on a lot," said Smith. "It forced our forwards to have to hit low and recheck how they were hitting so we could turn over the ball."
 
"The first 25 minutes, they really put pressure on us," said Weller about Brock's performance. "They were running the ball really hard, and made us tackle a lot which is a good setup for next week."
 
The Mustangs are back in action next week for the OUA semi-finals that will see the team fight for the opportunity to play for a banner.