London, ON - The Mustangs faced off against the Guelph Gryphons on Monday evening and took their first win of the season, winning 2-1.
11 minutes into the game, Brandon Miranjie attempted a shot on goal but it sailed high over the cross bar. 10 minutes later, Nicholas Ferreira attempted another shot on goal but it went wide left.
Western began picking up their pace and finding their stride towards the middle of the game. Charlie Bontis put Western on the scoreboard 30 minutes into the game to make it 1-0 Mustangs, just five minutes later, Bontis would strike yet again, this time assisted by Mahmoud Alqahwaji, extending the Western lead to 2-0.
Guelph came back strong after halftime with a few goal attempts. One minute into the second half of the game, Jacob Cabral shot at Western's goal, but it was saved by Elesio Melillo. At the 71 minutes mark, the Gryphons Patrick Perriel was substituted in and it paid off for Guelph as he would score at the 81 minute mark to cut the Western lead to 2-1. Guelph attempted to keep pressure with a few more shots towards the Mustangs goal in the remainder of the game but couldn't convert.
The game ended with Western winning 2-1 in front of their home crowd.
When asked if there were any pointers that the team would want to bring to their next game, Mustangs Heafd Coach Coach Martin Painter noted that there was "some really good moments, there were some moments at the start of the game, we were a bit nervous – got better as the first half went along and I thought the second half we started well and faded a little bit. We had to make a lot of changes, there was a little bit of chaos and credit to Guelph, they put a lot of pressure on them."
When asked about Bontis, Painter explained "The thing with Charlie is he's a very, very intelligent soccer player. Finds space, knows what he's doing. Before he receives the ball, he helps organize the team and I thought he was excellent – scored two good goals and unfortunately, he had to come off. We suffered a little bit when we lost his composure and communication, but I think we're expecting good things from Charlie this year and it was a really good start from him."
"It got close at the very end, but we stuck through it". said Bontis "First game of the season, we need a win so it's great to start off on the right foot."
"They've got a good team, very athletic team. We had a couple chances if we could've been a little more ruthless maybe we'd have got the third goal but as it was, we just need a little more composure defensively and a little better ability to keep the ball otherwise we're going to have to absorb pressure. It was a hot day to be absorbing pressure but found a way to get it done." said Painter.
These two teams will meet again next weekend, this time at Guelph. Game time is set for 3:15 PM at the Gryphon Soccer Complex.
