London ON - The Western Mustangs welcomed the Brock Badgers to Alumni field this afternoon. The team ultimately came out on top, winning their home opener 1-0.

It was an evenly matched game to start, with both teams going back and forth and having a relatively equal amount of possession.     

In the 22nd minute, the Mustangs were rewarded with a penalty shot. Tomas Ribeiro made no mistake burying the ball past the Badgers goaltender, giving his team an early lead.   

The goal gave Western a lot of momentum as they began dominating the game, winning every battle and not allowing Brock to get out of their own half.     

When asked about the importance of getting the early lead, Mustangs midfielder Jonathan Lopez said, "its super important. We're a team that knows that if we can get one in, we can get the win really easily. We have guys that defend really hard and we trust each other a lot."   

Western continued to control the pace of the game throughout the first period. The team was able to connect passes in tight situations and were not forcing the ball through traffic. Together, they did a great job of staying calm under pressure and knowing when to make a move and when to release the ball.     

Towards the end of the first half, the game became much more physical.   

The second half saw the Mustangs continuing to hem the Badgers in their own end. Although midway through, the momentum began to change, and the Badgers started to maintain possession, causing trouble for Western's back line.     

"I think we played well in the first half. We were connecting passes and continued that into the beginning of the second half," said Lopez. "In times when it was difficult, when they were putting a lot of pressure on us, we stayed compact and did our job."   

The Badgers did not back down, and the game's intensity rose as time passed. Western sat back and defended towards the end of the match to play it safe and keep their 1-0 lead.     

"We dominated the game and I think we showed some resiliency in the second half against a good team. Brock finished second place in the division last year and they are a tough team to breakdown," said Mustangs Head Coach Martin Painter. "I thought we did enough to hold on to the game, but it was very difficult."   

Western held Brock off the score sheet and secured their third win in four games.     

The Mustangs will travel to take on the McMaster Marauders next Friday night (Sept 13). The match will begin at 8:15 PM.