London, ON - The Western Mustangs met with the Waterloo Warriors in their first match-up of the season under the lights Friday night, ending in a 1-1 tie.
 
Both teams brought high energy from the start of the game. A corner for Western in the 4^th minute of the game was taken by Mahmoud Alqahwaji but no goal was scored. Tomas Ribero took a shot on goal in the 7^th minute of the game but it was saved by goalkeeper Lorin-Alexander Lopez. 
 
Dino Bontis went for a sliding save to stop Waterloo's advances on goal in the 9^th minute. Consistently throughout the game, Bontis would continue to halt Waterloo's advances on goal. 
 
A free kick from Western a couple minutes later was headered out by Waterloo. A further corner from Western taken by Mahmoud Alqahwaji was caught by Waterloo's goalkeeper. 
 
In the 38^th minute, a corner from Western would see the ball sent into the box but was punched out by Waterloo's keeper. A second shot on goal was then caught by Lopez, giving Waterloo possession again. 
 
In the 40^th minute of the game, Luc Coulumbe received the ball from Jonathan Ventrella and timing his run perfectly was able to get past the keeper and put the ball in the back of the net. 
 
Waterloo responded by putting another shot on goal. Sasha Dmitrovic took the shot but it was wide. Despite Waterloo gaining a lot of the possession in the first couple of minutes of the game, the Mustangs were able to find their stride towards the end of the first half and keep the pressure on the Warriors. 
 
The two teams went into half time with 1-0 on the scoreboard to Western. 
 
Western immediately put the pressure back on Waterloo with Grant Takacs taking a shot on goal in the 53^rdminute of the game. 
 
Noah Medeiros from the Warriors took a shot on goal in the 54^th minute but it was caught by Bontis. Waterloo kept the pressure on with Octo Ciotirga having a run on goal. The shot was saved by Bontis. He would then go on to take another shot on goal in the 67^th minute aiming for the left hand side of the goal. Bontis went for a diving save making sure the ball did not pass him. 
 
The majority of the play was kept in Waterloo's half for the second half of the game. A free kick from Brandon Miranjie was sent into the box but headered out by Waterloo. 
 
Waterloo's persistency paid off towards the end of the second half with Risto Geneski finding the back of Western's net in the 87^th minute of the game. Neither team would go on to score in the remaining minutes of the half or in overtime. The game ended with 1-1 and each team taking away a point. 
 
When we spoke to Head Coach Martin Painter at the end of the game, he explained that "it wasn't our best game. I think credit to waterloo. We weren't sharp in any phase of the game so hopefully it's not complacency but we've got a chance to come back Sunday and have a better performance but yeah today wasn't our best game."
 
In terms of the conversation happening after today, Coach Painter added that "we're just going to talk about what worked, what didn't work, adjustments we can make. I think the first adjustment we have to make is a little higher level of physical commitment and work rate in some moments and just a little bit more awareness in terms of when we wanna play long and when we want to keep the ball. We got a little impatient in possession, we're comfortable and it was a really poor goal to give up to be honest with you from a situation that we had under control." 
 
The team will take on the Warriors again this Sunday at 3:15pm in Waterloo.