LONDON, Ont. - First-year midfielder Giulia Geraci netted two goals to lead the Western Mustangs women's soccer team to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Waterloo Warriors in an OUA Quarter-final on Sunday afternoon at Mustang Field.

"Waterloo is a great team and they've been tough to score on all year. Getting the early goal made a big difference for us and getting the second before halftime allowed us to play with a more comfortable lead," said Mustangs head coach Martin Painter. "You have to give credit to Waterloo; they created some good chances and made us fight for it. I think the score is a little misleading, Waterloo played well and they never made it easy on us."

With the win, the Mustangs will move on to the OUA Final Four where they'll meet a team from the OUA East Division in the semifinals. The Warriors loss will end their year after a 6-4-6 regular season finish.

Geraci, continued her stellar rookie season as she has been a consistent presence for the purple and white throughout the year, tying for the team lead in goals at the end of the regular season.

"It's been an amazing season so far. I never expected to come in and be able to make this much of an impact, but the confidence that the team has given me and the encouragement from the coaching staff has made all the difference," said Geraci.

The Western offence had no trouble catching fire to start the match, as the Mustangs controlled the time of possession throughout the opening minutes. Western would quickly be rewarded for applying the pressure to the Waterloo defence, as Geraci netted the first goal of the day for the purple and white within the first ten minutes of action. The Mustangs offence would continue to attack throughout the half, as fourth-year striker Julia Crnjac extended her goal-scoring streak to nine games to give the Mustangs the 2-0 advantage heading into the second half.

The Mustangs found similar success in the second half, as the defence shut down the opposing offence, as they have all season long. Western continued to extend their lead early in the frame as defender Rachel Drouillard found the back of the net for her first goal of the year. Geraci would put in her second of the day not long after to ultimately give the Mustangs the 4-0 victory.

"It felt excellent to be able to finish off hour last home game of the year with a win. Both of our fifth-year players, Sabrina De Nard and Jenna White, have had unbelievable careers. This will be their fourth time in five years that they'll be going to an OUA Final Four, so it's only right that they end their last home games with a win," said Painter. "We know the teams that we're about to face will be strong, but that's what you expect at this point in the playoffs. We just need to be prepared to play our best going forward."

"Towards the end of the regular season, we got used to the way each one of us plays. That the chemistry on this team and our ability to be so interchangeable throughout games is what's helped us succeed. We're playing for each other; there's no selfishness," said Geraci. "It's something we need to continue to do if we want to keep winning."

The Mustangs will be back in action this Saturday, November 4, where they will take on an opponent from the OUA East Division as they will play in the OUA Semifinals. Check back to westernmustangs.ca early this week when the full schedule and location of the OUA Final Four will be announced.