London, ON – The Mustangs men's soccer team dropped a highly spirited matchup 3-2 against the Laurier Golden Hawks as they began their 2019 season at Mustangs Field.
 
"We saw the intensity and speed of play was a lot faster in comparison to our two previous games that we won pretty comfortably. When you're down and you're losing meanwhile the other team is fired up the stress levels increase, and you stop thinking a bit and react more, said Parker Seymour, Mustangs Associate Head Coach." We put ourselves in some pretty vulnerable situations"
 
Dominating ball possession in the first half, Western took the lead just after the 20^th minute with a strong finish from Nimi Adeyemo who defeated the opposition's defender and fired a powerful shot to take the 1-0 lead.
 
"It happened really fast, one of the other guys won the ball off of the defender, but he was a couple steps back, so I figure I should take it," said Adeyemo.
 
Adding to the first half excitement in the 38^th minute Hawks forward, Glorious Okpali, headed to the net and successfully tied the game.
 
Despite Western outshooting Laurier 5-2 in the intensive first half it closes out tied 1-1.
 
The Golden Hawks came out powerfully in the second half and took the lead as Glorious Okpali scored in the 50^th minute yet again, capitalizing on a miscommunication from the Mustangs.
 
Western would convert again in the 64^th minute with a goal from Jamu Lulya assisted by Christian Devia, to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Omar Nasser regained the lead for the Hawks in 70^th minute with a well-executed goal just chipping it over the Mustangs goaltender's head.
 
"Physically some players played more than we had hoped for today, we were playing against a team that's had more rest than us as well, so our approach to Sunday's game is going to a bit different from what it was tonight, said Seymour."
 
The Mustangs head to McMaster on Sunday at the Ron Joyce Stadium for a 3pm kick off.