London, ON - The cold temperatures didn't stop the Mustangs from keeping up the pressure and picking up a 1-0 win over Toronto on Wednesday night.
The game was contested at Western Alumni Stadium and saw the Mustangs come out with the vast majority of the pressure in the first half and in the 40th minute, Western Athlete of the Week Natalie Abbate stepped up and fired a shot through traffic and past Toronto goalkeeper Levanta Staggolis to take a 1-0 lead.
"First half was interesting, started off a little slow but then we got into the game and controlled the ball a little bit more," said Mustangs Head Coach Martin Painter "The goal we scored to win the game, was one of the best goals we scored all year."
Western led the pressure throughout the vast majority of the game with 10 shots compared to Toronto's 4. It wasn't until the second half of the game that Toronto's pressure started to show.
"In the second half they came out realizing they were down 1-0 with limited time left, and needed to push," said Mustangs Goalkeeper Samantha St. Croix "I feel like we held pretty good control though throughout the half."
In extra time, the Varsity Blues really pushed the pace and crashed the Western net hard, even at one point knocking the Western keeper to the ground for a few moments.
"The girl came in,she had a clear shot so I tried to get as big as I could and once she shot I turned my face and took the ball right in the ear," said St. Croix "It went over the net I was told because I obviously didn't know, I took a minute to regroup and got right back up and wanted to keep going."
Moments later the Varsity Blues would get another great scoring chance with a corner kick.
"I was told the whole season don't jump at the ball, so I dropped off and I knew it was coming right over me because they were trying to hit back post the entire game so I just went out and caught it." said St. Croix.
"Playing in her first playoff game in the OUA and to come out and make a save like that and deal with a couple crosses the way she did, incredible" said Painter of his goalkeepers performance.
With the win the Mustangs now advance to the OUA Semi Final where they will take on the Nipissing Lakers.
"This is an amazing feeling, this season has worked super hard and has continued to get better and continue to challenge themselves," said Painter "We're headed to North Bay, congrats to Nipissing as that's the first final four in their history, its a long road trip for us and we'll see how cold it is up there but we're looking forward to it."
The game will take place this weekend, stay tuned to WesternMustangs.ca for full details.
