LONDON, Ont. - Second-year striker Reza Nafar provided the only goal of the game to give the Western Mustangs a 1-0 victory over the Brock Badgers on Sunday afternoon at Mustang Field.

"It was a good win for us. We created so many opportunities, now we just have to focus on finishing on more than one of them," said Mustangs' head coach Rock Basacco. "It doesn't matter who you're playing, because any team can pull an upset on any given day, it's happened in the past many times. But the boys were well prepared this week, and it showed in today's game."

With the win, the Mustangs improve to 3-0-1 on the season, maintain their undefeated record, and occupy third place on the OUA West standings. The Badgers loss will move their record to 2-3-1 on the year as they look to break out of the middle of the division.

Following a big win over McMaster, Nafar came up big for the purple and white, scoring the lone goal of the match and notching his second of the year.

"It all started with great pressure from Connor Wilson. He played it to Lucas, who had a good chance himself, but unselfishly made the play to me, and I was just lucky enough to get my name on the score sheet," said Nafar, describing the game-winning sequence. "It gives me a lot of confidence going into the next game and I just hope to keep it going moving forward."

The opening half began with both teams jockeying for possession in a physical matchup. The defences proved strong through the first ten minutes, as neither side earned a quality shot until a Western header from Patrick Melo made its way to the net, but careened off the post to keep the match scoreless.

The Badgers found little leeway against the Western defence, until Brock's Anthony Smith took a hard strike and missed just high off the crossbar, nearly handing the Badgers' the advantage.

With just minutes remaining in the opening half, Western found themselves in prime scoring position with a shot from Lucas Ventura, but Badgers' keeper Matthew Haggith came up with a diving save to keep the game at a 0-0 tie at halftime.

Western didn't wait long to get their offence going in the second half as Ventura penetrated the Badgers' defence and set up Nafar for the game's lone goal, giving the Mustangs a slim 1-0 advantage in the 50th minute.

Brock would put the pressure on Western's defence towards the end of the game, but the Mustangs defence stood strong and preserved the clean sheet.

"Defence has always been the priority for the start of any season. We've managed to really solidify our defensive schemes and create an understanding between the players as to what's expected, and they showed that very well today," commented Basacco.

"It all starts with our keeper, Kody Thomson, telling everyone to stay in formation and keeping the ball in check. We've only conceded three goals this year, so the defence has been really strong so far. That's something we continue to work on every week. If nobody scores on us, then we can't lose, it's that simple," said Nafar, praising the defensive efforts of his teammates.

The Mustangs will be back in action this Wednesday, September 13, where they will travel to Windsor to take on the 2-3-1 Lancers.