London, ON – The Men's Soccer Team returned to Mustangs Field to open the 2022 season in a 2-1 win against the McMaster Marauders on Saturday afternoon. 
 
After narrowly missing the postseason due to goal-differential last season, it was the purple and white who came out firing in the decisive first half on what was a scorching Saturday contest, with goals by Jamu Iluya and Brandon Miranjie.
 
However, the first dangerous opportunity came at the hands of the visiting Marauder's, in which Western keeper Samuel Spoelstra put up a big first initial save and another big one off the rebound to keep the game level early on.
 
Miranjie opened the scoring in the 13^th minute for the purple and white off of a set piece. Captain Patrick Melo placed it into the box in which Miranjie got a foot to it for a top right corner placement.
 
"It was a really well executed set piece," said head coach Martin Painter. "Great delivery, great movement, great finish."
 
The purple and white would double their lead before the end of the half as Ehsan Hirji sent a through ball to Iluya who slotted it past the keeper for his first of the season in the 33^rd minute. The score would stand heading into the second forty-five.
 
"Me and Ehsan are good at working together and off of each other, so as soon as I saw him flick the ball in I made my run in behind," said Iluya on his goal. "I saw the goalie step off his line and just finished it on the left side."
 
"I thought in the first half we were excellent and deserved the lead at halftime," said head coach Martin Painter. "Both were quality goals. On the second goal, it was great build through the middle of the field and great passing combination and getting in behind which is what we want to do."
 
Behind by two, the visitors in maroon forced a great save out of Spoelstra to start the half off of a strong set-piece.
 
Iluya took control soon after and took the ball up the wing with wicked pace, beating the defenders, and set up Charlie Bontis for what looked to be a third goal, but the McMaster keeper made the save.
 
McMaster strung together a nice sequence and cut the deficit in half in the 65^th minute from inside the box, rolling off Spoelstra into the netting.
 
Looking for a quick response, Iluya got in behind the McMaster keeper after tipping the ball past him, as it looked like Iluya would grab his second of the game now wearing the captain's armband for Patrick Melo who was forced off due to injury. However the visiting defence came through, putting it out for a corner.
 
"Patrick is our anchor, he was our captain last year as well," said Iluya. "It was tough seeing him go down, but we had a chat when he gave me the armband about keeping the energy going. We had to finish it out for him and that's what we did."
 
In search of an equalizer, McMaster piled on the pressure forcing the 'Stangs to their own half. Western were able to remain composed and hold on to claim the win, their first of the season.  
 
"We created a lot of chances in the first half and we want to go back to that for tomorrow. The second half we were a bit passive and sat back too much," said Painter. "I think it was a combination of the heat and lack of fitness, and credit to McMaster's pressure. It was always going to be a nervous last 15 minutes but we did enough. We deserved the win."
 
"We want to make sure we claim the first game at home, we had a lot of support. We want to make sure we play for the name on the front of the jersey and I'm pretty sure we did that today, especially in this heat," said Iluya. "[The heat] made us dig a little bit deeper than usual but we came out with the win."
 
The Mustangs will look to bring the momentum into tomorrow as they finish off the weekend series against McMaster.
 
"Going in on a high and we have that confidence going [into tomorrow], especially after scoring 2 in the first half," commented Iluya on tomorrow's rematch. "We did concede one but tomorrow we have a clean slate and we are going to play our best game tomorrow."
 
The Mustangs prepare for a quick turnaround as they head to Hamilton tomorrow afternoon to close out opening weekend against the Marauders with kick-off scheduled for 3:15pm.