LONDON, Ont. – A first half goal from Rudy James powered the Western Mustangs to a 1-0 win over the Brock Badgers in an OUA First Round playoff matchup on Wednesday night at Mustang Field.
 
"[Our] possession was good, but there has to be a direction and I wish we would have attacked a little more quickly. We tried to break the team down all the time and that's tough to do," said Mustangs head coach Rock Basacco. "We had good possession, should have maybe scored another goal, and that would have taken a little bit of pressure off of us."
 
With the victory the Mustangs will move on to the OUA Quarter-finals, where they'll meet up with the York Lions on Sunday evening.
 
James' goal came in the 30th minute of the first half and gave the Mustangs all the offence they'd need on Wednesday. It was the veteran's first goal of the season and was meant a little more than normal as it came in his final game at Mustang Field.
 
"This is my fifth year, my last year, at Western, so this was my last ever home game. Coming back from injury [after] missing 10 games this season it was nice to get a run with the team in these past five games and, finally in this last game, score a goal."
 
Kody Thomson earned the clean sheet for the home side, making three saves in the victory. Anthony Stott countered for the Badgers, putting in a strong performance with six saves on Wednesday.
 
The Mustangs controlled the play for much of the first half and after generating some quality scoring chances Western broke through in the 30th minute. Reza Nafar sent a high cross from the far side of the field and across the box where James knocked it in to give the home side a 1-0 lead heading into the half.
 
"I saw Reza on the far side, and he knows that I make the back post run a lot so we tried it. I saw the goalie cheating a bit on the near post and I went for it, luckily it went in. That's what playoffs are about, taking chances."
 
After Western controlled much of the play in the first 45 minutes things were a bit more even in the second half, with the Mustangs holding a 4-3 edge in shots. Both teams had a few nice chances to score, but strong work by both keepers kept things scoreless in the second half with the Mustangs taking a 1-0 win.
 
Western will now get set to head on the road to take on York in the OUA Quarter-finals on Sunday, October 29, at 7 p.m., with the Mustangs looking to repeat the success they've had so far this year against York. The purple and white took down the Lions by a 1-0 score back in the regular season opener, and then played to a 1-1 draw on October 1 in Toronto.
 
"York is a good side, obviously," said Basacco. "We played them last year in the playoffs and hopefully the outcome will be a little bit different this year.
 
"We've had good results [this season] against York, but you have to give them credit as well they ended up first place again after that loss to us. They're going to be strong, but we just have to be stronger on the day, and in soccer anything can happen."