London, ON – The Mustangs started their post-season on a high note by beating the Toronto Varsity Blues 18-10 at Alumni Field Sunday afternoon in the OUA Quarterfinal match-up.
 
Western finished the regular season with a 4-2 record, earning a fourth-place finish and home field advantage against the fifth-place Varsity Blues who finished the regular season 3-3.
 
Mikaela Hough, Taylor Hagen, and Kennedy Johnstone all had tries in the win, while Jenna Lawrence had a penalty goal. The Mustangs' defense was a strong highlight in the match, shutting down a resilient Varsity Blues team.
 
"We are really pleased with what we saw on the field," said head coach Josh Campbell. "We worked on a lot of things this week and saw it all come to fruition. It was a full team effort and I'm really happy with the win."
 
"It was so nice to see the things that we practiced throughout the week and all season coming together this game," echoed Taylor Hagen. "We had a maul that went 30 metres, then we got it wide at least like two times, two shadow balls, it was amazing. We did that exact same play in practice, so it was really nice to see it play out. There's nothing more we could ask for."
 
Both teams held their own early to start, keeping things scoreless well into the first half. Jenna Lawrence put the first three points on the board for the purple and white from a penalty goal 25 minutes in.
 
"This is our first playoff game in three years so energy was super high," said Hagen. "We just wanted to come in with really good energy wanting to hit the ground running and win."
 
The Varsity Blues would get their first try of the game five minutes later, putting the score at 5-3.
 
As extra time rolled into the first half, Hagen scored a try to put the 'Stangs up 8-5 while the home-crowd support filled the air with cheers and horns.
 
Mikaela Hough got her first try of the game 10 minutes into the second half, extending the lead to 13-5.
 
With 20 minutes remaining, the visitors in blue put up another try to keep the game still to be won.
 
"We know what Toronto brings to the table. They are a really strong team that has come a long way over the last couple of seasons, so we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game," said Campbell. "We knew our defense would need to be strong to get the win and it was. Our defense was absolutely lights out."
 
With the season on the line, first-year Kennedy Johnstone scored a try for an 18-10 lead with less than 10 minutes to play. The 'Stangs were able to hold on and secure their first playoff win in front of the support of family and friends.
 
"It feels amazing. It's almost surreal," said Hagen on the win. "Everyone is smiling, there are no sad faces, and it's so nice to come together as a team and see everyone happy and with the same mentality."
 
The team now prepares to face Queen's next weekend, who had a first-round bye after going undefeated in the regular season.
 
"We got a good week of practices ahead of us and then we are on the road to Queen's so we need to go with that good energy again and the mentality that we can win," said Hagen. "If we have that confidence hopefully we can pull through."
 
"We've got Queen's next and they're top of the table," concluded Campbell. "We know that we are going to need to play giant killer to take them down. It's well within our ability to do, we just need to believe in ourselves and hopefully we can shock the OUA."
 
The Mustangs will travel to Kingston on Saturday, October 22^nd to take on the Gaels in semi-final action.