LONDON, Ont. - Fourth-year defender Jonathon Hodge netted the opening goal of the match to help lift the Western men's soccer team to a 5-3 shootout victory over the Windsor Lancers in the OUA West quarter-finals.
With the win, the Mustangs will move on to the OUA West division semifinals, where they will match up with the Guelph Gryphons on the road. The Lancers' loss ends their season in the quarter-final round following an impressive 6-6-4 regular season.
Four other Mustangs score for the purple and white in the victory, as Belal Halbouni, Mark Sergent, Owain Evans, and Robert Demario each scored in the shootout to give Western the victory, with Demario ultimately putting the game away with a clutch final shot.
"The game plan tonight was to control the ball, attack, and take advantage of our opportunities and I thought we did that very well in the first half," said Mustangs head coach Martin Painter. "In the second half they applied a little more pressure on us and we struggled to deal with that. We've been trying to put a complete game together all season and I think we still have yet to do so, but credit to the guys for pulling out the win in the end."
Windsor pressured the ball into Western's end throughout the opening minutes of the match, but it was the Mustangs who nearly struck first, as Anthony Chrysanthou missed just wide in Western's first opportunity. Sebastian Fischer followed Chrysanthou's lead just minutes later, coming up just short on a header as they game remained scoreless. Western's efforts were finally rewarded midway through the half as Jonathon Hodge converted on a scramble in front of the net to give the purple and white the 1-0 heading into halftime.
Windsor controlled the attack early in the second half, but solid defence from the purple and white kept the Lancers from earning even a single shot in the game. However, Guelph earned a controversial penalty shot in extra time to tie the game at 1-1 and force an overtime. Both teams would fail to score in the overtime period as fatigue quickly took over, but a final shootout goal from Robert Demario ultimately gave the Mustangs the 5-3 victory.
"Practice pays off and we practice penalty kicks all the time, so we felt perfectly comfortable about heading into the shootout and leaving with a victory," said Demario. "With all due respect to Windsor, we knew we were the better team coming into tonight. They're a really tough team to face in the first round, but we came out with the outcome we expected tonight."
"Tonight was a good step for us, but we're moving on to play against a really competitive Guelph team, so we need to be sharper if we want to keep advancing," said Painter. "I think by the end of the game both teams were just exhausted, so we're happy to leave with a well-fought win."
The Mustangs will be back in action this Sunday, October 28, where they will travel to take on the Guelph Gryphons in Guelph, Ontario to kick off the OUA West division semifinals.
