Day Five Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – The Western Mustangs women's curling team finished in fourth place at the OUA Curling Championship, falling to Guelph on Monday in the bronze medal game.
 
The Laurier Golden Hawks swept the championship for the second consecutive year, going undefeated in both men's and women's competition to win gold. The Brock Badgers claimed women's silver, while Waterloo and Brock took silver and bronze respectively on the men's side.
 
After being defeated by Laurier 7-1 earlier in the day in the semi-finals, the Mustangs faced off with the host Gryphons for the bronze medal and a spot at the CIS Championship. Guelph opened the game's scoring with one point in the first end and two in the second. Western responded with a two point end in the third and one in the fifth, with Guelph picking up single points in both the fourth and sixth ends. Western pulled closer with another single point in the seventh, however the Gryhons closed out the game with two in the eighth to take a 7-4 win.


Day Four Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – The Western Mustangs women's curling team is off to the semi-finals of the OUA Championship after a 6-5 win over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Sunday evening at the Guelph Curling Club.

Neither team waited long to put points on the board on Sunday, with Laurentian picking up two points in the first end before Western responded with two of their own in the second. The Mustangs then stole single points in both the third and fourth frames to go up 4-2 after four. After both teams traded points in the fifth and sixth, the Voyageurs tied the game at 6-6 with two points in the seventh, but the Mustangs recorded another one point end in the eighth to earn the win a spot in the semi-finals.

The quarterfinal was Western's second contest of the day, after starting things off by taking on the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks. The Golden Hawks jumped out to an early lead, going up 4-0 after two ends, and despite Western outscoring their opponents 3-2 for the remainder of the game, Laurier held onto their lead for a 6-3 win to finish atop Pool B and earn a bye into the semi-finals.

Western had three games on the men's side on Sunday, playing a trio of close games with each one decided by a single point. After finishing out the round robin portion of the championship with a 5-4 extra ends loss to Queen's, the Mustangs faced off with Toronto in a tiebreaker to determine a spot in the quarterfinals.

The Mustangs started the game strong, scoring two points in the first end before Toronto put three points on the board in the third. Western responded with three points of their own in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead, however the Varsity Blues scored one in both the fifth and sixth to tie things up. Just as the purple and white opened the scoring, they would also close it with a single point in the eighth to take a 6-5 win.

The Western men then took on the Brock Badgers in the quarterfinals in the final draw of the day. With both teams tied 1-1 after four ends, the Mustangs recorded two straight one point ends to take a 3-1 lead into the seventh end. Unfortunately for the purple and white, the Badgers scored two points in the seventh and one in the eighth to defeat the Mustangs 4-3.

The fifth and final day of the OUA Curling Championship begins on Monday morning at 11 a.m. Western's women's team is set for a rematch with Laurier in one semi-final with the winner meeting Brock or Guelph for the OUA title at 3 p.m.

Day Three Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – It was another strong day on the ice for the Western Mustangs curling teams, as the men went 2-0 with wins over Guelph and Toronto, while the women were 1-1 with a win over Trent on Day Three of the OUA Curling Championship.

After three full days of competition the Mustangs are tied with Toronto for second place in Pool B on the women's side, holding a 4-1 record. The men's team is also tied for second in Pool B, with their 4-2 mark placing them alongside McMaster.

The Mustangs men took on Guelph in the first draw of the day, in what was one of the highest scoring games of the tournament so far with Western taking a 10-6 win. Although Western came out on top it was the host Gryphons that opened the scoring, registering one point in the second end. The Mustangs fired back in impressive fashion, putting four points on the board in the following frame. Both sides continued to trade points for the remainder of the contest, with Guelph scoring two in the fourth and three in the sixth, while Western scored two in the fifth and another four points in the seventh to secure the win.

Western returned to the ice later in the day for a showdown with the Varsity Blues that saw Western earn a 7-6 win. With both teams tied at 2-2 following the third end, Toronto built a slight lead with a pair of one point ends in the fourth and fifth. The Mustangs responded in a big way in the sixth, putting four points on the scoreboard to take a two point lead, a lead that would increase to three following a single point in the seventh. Toronto picked up two points in the eighth end, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Mustangs from walking away with their fourth win of the championship.

Toronto became the first team to defeat the Mustangs women, handing the purple and white a 4-3 loss in the day's second draw. Western opened the scoring against Toronto, picking up one point in the first end before Toronto did the same in the third to tie things up. The Mustangs retook the lead with two points in the fourth, however the Varsity Blues closed out the game with single points in the fifth, sixth, and eighth to earn the win.

The Mustangs women closed out the day's schedule strong, defeating Trent by an 8-1 score in six ends. Western took the first lead of the game in the third end, scoring three points, before making it a 4-0 lead after four. Trent recorded their only point of the game in the fifth end before the Mustangs finished things off with four points in the sixth to cement the victory.

Both teams will be back in action on Sunday, with the men's team taking on the undefeated Queen's Gaels, followed by the women's team facing the similarly undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks.

Day Two Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – Western earned another two wins on the second day of the OUA Curling Championship, with the women's team defeating McMaster while the men topped UOIT.

After two days of competition the women's team is one of a trio of teams with three wins, along with Laurier and UOIT, with both the Mustangs and Golden Hawks holding 3-0 records. On the men's side the Mustangs are 2-2, tying them for third place in their pool beside Toronto and Guelph.

The women's team maintained their undefeated record with a 6-3 victory over McMaster in the third draw of the day. Taking a 2-0 lead after the first end, Western led 4-1 through four frames after McMaster scored a single point in the second and the Mustangs did the same in the third and fourth. The Marauders recorded one point ends in both the fifth and sixth to narrow the gap, but another two points in the seventh saw the purple and white clinch a 6-3 win in only seven ends.

Western's men's team began their day against McMaster, and after falling behind the Marauders 2-0 they tied things up with two points in the third end. The Mustangs took their first lead of the match after scoring three in the sixth end, however McMaster fired back with a pair of one point ends in the seventh and eighth to tie the game and send it to an extra end where they picked up another single to take a 6-5 win.

The Mustangs men returned to the ice for the day's final draw, defeating UOIT in dramatic fashion by an 8-4 score. Western opened the game with a steal of two in the first, but fell behind after the Ridgebacks score one in the second and two in the fourth. After the teams exchanged single points in the fifth and sixth, the Mustangs finished things off in the seventh with a steal of five to give them the 8-4 win.

Both teams will be back in action on Saturday, with the men's team taking on Guelph and Toronto, while the women will face Toronto and Trent.

Day One Recap

GUELPH, Ont. – The Western Mustangs women's curling team went 2-0, while the men's team went 1-1, on the first day of the OUA Curling Championships being held at the Guelph Curling Club.

The women's team defeated both Windsor and UOIT by 6-4 scores to finish the day undefeated. Their 2-0 record places them into a tie for first place alongside the Toronto Varsity Blues atop the Pool B standings.

Western's men's team fell to Windsor in their first match of the day, but bounced back in impressive fashion, needing only five ends to record a 9-0 win over the Laurentian Voyageurs. Heading into day two of the championship, the Mustangs are one of four teams in Pool B with one win so far, while Queen's is in sole possession of first place with a 2-0 record.

The Mustangs women's team started things off bright and early with draw one beginning at 8:30 a.m. as the purple and white took on the Windsor Lancers. After the Lancers took a 1-0 lead in the first end, the Mustangs struck back with two points in the second and one more in the third to take a 3-1 lead after three ends. Windsor then responded with two points in the fourth to tie things up before Western answered back with two points of their own in the fifth. It was a lead that the Mustangs wouldn't relinquish, taking a 6-4 win.

Western carried the momentum from their first win over into their second contest of the day, scoring five points in the first three ends, including steals of one in the second frame and two in the third, to jump out to an early lead. The Mustangs recorded another steal of one in the fifth end, and despite four points from the Ridgebacks in the final three ends, it wouldn't be enough as Western claimed another 6-4 win.

On the men's side it was Western opening the scoring against the Lancers, putting one point on the board in the second end. Windsor tied things up with a single of their own in the second, before Western retook the lead, scoring one in the fourth. Unfortunately for the purple and white, the Lancers would score one in both the sixth and seventh, and then finish things up with two in the eighth to take a 5-2 win.

The Mustangs started out strong in their second contest of the day and refused to let up, scoring early and often to hand Laurentian a 9-0 defeat in only five ends. Western stole points in each of the game's five frames, putting up two points in the first, third, fourth, and fifth, along with a steal of one in the second, to claim the win.

Action resumes on Friday with Western set to take on McMaster on the women's side, while the men's team will face McMaster and UOIT.