LONDON, Ont. - Third-year striker Nimi Adeyemo earned his first goal of the season to lead the Western men's soccer team in a 2-1 loss to the OUA West division-leading York Lions on Mustangs Field. 

With the loss, the Mustangs finish the regular season with a 7-5-4 record and will head into the playoffs this Wednesday as the fourth seed in the OUA West division standings. The Lions' victory maintains their perfect 13-0-3 record as they remain atop the OUA West standings and earn a bye through the first round of the playoffs. 

"We've been betting on ourselves this entire season because we know the kind of individual talent that we have, so we're just going to keep betting on ourselves heading into the playoffs," said first-year striker Jamu Iluya. "We just take it one game at a time, so we're putting this loss behind us and looking forward to the postseason." 

"Today was a bit of a wakeup call for us, but those are always welcome when you're heading into higher-stakes games," said Painter. "We're going to need more guys to step up and expect even more from our proven players. Our intensity has to heighten moving forward because the opposing talent is going to heighten as we keep going." 

Going up against one of the best overall teams the OUA has to offer, it was unsurprising that the Lions struck first against the purple and white, scoring just three minutes into the match to force Western to play from behind. However, despite the early goal, Western dominated the control of the ball for the remainder of the half and were rewarded with an eventual goal from Adeyemo off of a perfectly-placed assist from Iluya. The Mustangs continued to create chances deep in the Lions' zone but were unable to finish as they went into the second half facing a 1-1 draw. 

An inability to take advantage of their chances in the first half quickly caught up with Western, as York's offence eventually scored once again off a beautiful strike from Jon Alec Toromoreno-Duenas. Western kept the pressure up until the final whistle but were unable to break past the York defence a second time as they fell in a close 2-1 loss. 

"We look forward to the pressure that comes with the playoffs on Wednesday," said Painter. "We've been needing to play a complete game all season, so this will be a true test for us no matter who we end up playing. I thought we did a lot of good stuff today, but it was the same story as Friday night. We started off strong and then laid off in the second half. We can't do that moving forward because teams will be all over us, just as York was today." 

"Today was good for us because we got the chance to see the best teams in the division right before playoffs, so we know the level we need to get to in order to make it through the playoffs," said Iluya. "We have to raise of quality of play and today was a good test for us. But we have to do it for a full 90 minutes." 

The Mustangs will be back in action this Wednesday, October 24, where they will take on the Windsor Lancers in the first round of the playoffs on Mustangs Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:15 P.M. EST.