LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs started off their second semester schedule in impressive fashion on Friday night, defeating the Waterloo Warriors by a 5-1 score at Thompson Arena.
 
With the win, Western moves into eighth in the OUA West as the season enters the home stretch with a 6-9-2 record. Lakehead sits in seventh only one point ahead of the Mustangs, while sixth place Brock currently have a two-point lead on the purple and white. Waterloo's loss moved the Warriors into ninth place with their 5-9-3 record.

Prior to puck drop the Mustangs honoured the memory of Dan Soden with a moment of silence, as the CHRW legend passed away Thursday night. Soden was the CHRW Sports Coordinator for 14 years and served as host for the Mustang Nation show. He contributed to more than 400 live broadcasts during his time with CHRW, in addition to assisting with a seemingly endless number of interviews that allowed him to interact with students, coaches, and athletes from across campus. 
 
Trevor Warnaar, Kyle Pettit, Mitchell Brooks, and Anthony Stephano were responsible for the purple an white goals, while Mitch Elliot was the only Warrior to beat Luke Peresinni.
 
Warnaar earned the first goal of the game just seven minutes in, and would be followed by Petit and Brooks before the first frame came to a close. Both Warnaar and Brooks' markers came off of scrambles in front of Warriors netminder Mike Morrison to help give the home side a 3-0 advantage after 20 minutes.
 
Peresinni stood tall for the Mustangs by fending off nine attempts in his first game since returning from an injury, stopping 38 shots in the victory. The former OHL Goaltender of the Year was sidelined for the first few months of the season, only seeing action in one other game this year.
 
"He played great," noted new Mustangs defenceman Stephen Desrocher when asked about Peresinni's performance. "I played with him in Kingston, he's always been a great goalie […] He had a great game today and I can only see him getting better from here."
 
His performance continued to frustrate the Warriors well into the second period, with the goaltender turning aside an additional 16 shots. Despite concentrating play in the Mustang end and seeing three power play opportunities, the black and yellow half of the scoreboard remained blank following the first two periods.
 
"It's definitely harder when you have the puck in your end the whole time," noted Peresinni. "You've just got to stay focused, communicate, and talk with your D to hopefully kill it off."
 
Following a scoreless second period, the Mustangs got back on the board following a pair of off-setting penalties saw the two teams go four-on-four early in the third, with Warnaar converting an assist from Anthony Stefano just over two minutes into the frame to give the home side a four goal lead.  
 
Mitch Elliott responded for the Warriors midway through the period, capitalizing on a loose puck in the Mustangs crease to cut the Western lead to three goals. That would be as close as things would get, with Stefano rounding out the scoring by sending a shot past Morrison and off the crossbar into the net to secure a 5-1 win for Western.
 
"I probably could have came out before that, I just let it bounce off my glove," said Peresinni about the single goal that slid past him. "That's probably one I should have had, but I'm not complaining."
 
The Mustangs will be back on the ice tomorrow night in Toronto, when they take on the Ryerson Rams at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv