LONDON, Ont. - Fourth-year Veronica Harrigan scored a game-high five tries to help lead the Western women's rugby team to a dominant 78-10 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday evening on Mustangs Field. 

The win marked Western's first of the year, taking down Toronto in the OUA Quarterfinals as they look ahead to their upcoming OUA postseason matchup in two weeks' time. However, despite the victory, Western's regular season record eliminated them from contention for the National Championship.

Six other Mustangs ran in tries for the purple and white on the day, highlighted by the play of Lexi Smith throughout the game, who scored one try and nine conversions in the victory.

"Tonight's focus was to bring our system that we've had all season and execute it to the fullest," said Smith. "We've faced incredible competition all season long, so we felt prepared and ready to go to work coming into tonight. It was obviously a big momentum win and something we'll be looking to build on in the future. We haven't drifted away from our system at all and it worked out tonight."

"It felt really positive to get the win tonight and it was one that we deserved," said Mustangs head coach John Weller. "We had a really productive week of practice, so we felt that if we stuck to our game plan and executed to our potential, then we'd be leaving here with a win. I think we're all glad tonight went according to plan. Veronica and Lexi were huge tonight for us, but anybody watching the game could see that it was a full team effort. Now we just have to make sure we keep these types of performances going."

Western came out of the gate firing on all cylinders against Toronto, as the Mustangs scored four tries within the opening minutes of the game to give them a dominant lead not even midway through the half. Harrigan, who is still getting accustomed to a new position in the Western lineup, was consistently dominant through both halves, running through the Varsity Blues' line with ease. Toronto would remain persistent throughout the entire match, but Western's offensive attack simply proved to be too much to handle as they cruised to the 78-10 victory.

"Despite not being in the medal round to go to Nationals, we had a really urgent and motivated mindset tonight and I think that's something we can be really proud of," said Smith. "To finally get one in the win column is huge for us as a team. This was a year of learning for us, but I think we're ready to take this win and use it to make some more noise in the playoffs."

"I don't think keeping our motivation and energy up moving forward is going to be an issue, it never is," said Weller. "We have some great leaders on this team to make sure we maintain our focus, so that's going to be the message heading into our next match."

The Mustangs will be back in action in two weeks, where they will compete against either the Laurier Golden Hawks or McMaster Marauders in OUA postseason action.