LONDON, Ontario — The Mustangs picked up their fifth win on home turf this season with a 3-1 victory over Laurier on Saturday afternoon.
Western closed out the home portion of their regular season schedule by scoring twice in the first half and finished with a 12-4 advantage in shots, including 5-3 in shots on goal.
The Mustangs generated more attempts throughout the match, finishing with 12 shots and five on goal while Laurier had four shots and three on goal. Alan Monyard's two-goal outing gave the Mustangs the scoring production behind that edge, and Stefan Musta added another finish as the Mustangs turned a 2-1 game into a 3-1 lead late. Laurier was whistled for 16 fouls and received two yellow cards, while the Mustangs committed two fouls and received one yellow.
"I think it was one of our more complete performances of the year. The first half especially, I thought we were excellent." said Head Coach Martin Painter. "A little bit of a drop off in the second half. I think a little unfortunate to concede the goal, but overall it was a really good team effort."
Alan Monyard scored twice in the first half, putting the Mustangs in front in the 16th minute and adding another goal in the 24th to send the Mustangs into halftime ahead 2-0. Earlier, the Mustangs created the first threats with Gavin Goddard forcing a save at 1:48 and Alex Henderson taking a corner less than a minute later. Laurier pushed back with a run of corner kicks after the Mustangs' second goal and later put a shot on target, but Ben Choudhry made the save at 37:10 to keep the two-goal margin intact. The Mustangs closed the half with sustained pressure, producing five shots from 35:29 to 42:13, including Ennis Bernaus hitting the crossbar, a Panos Tzanetakis shot saved and back-to-back corners from Monyard.
Musta gave the Mustangs late separation at 75:09, scoring off a Goddard assist to extend the lead to 3-1. Earlier, the Mustangs faced Laurier corner kicks in the opening 10 minutes of the half before Goddard put two shots wide in the 61st and 62nd minutes. Choudhry stopped Alban Osdautaj's penalty kick at 68:41, but Osdautaj scored shortly after to make it 2-1. The Mustangs added a Filip Arbutina corner kick in the 88th minute and finished the half with the 3-1 score intact to close out the win.
"It's really big because of what we're fighting for, we have 2nd place, if we win all of our games, we for sure get 2nd, which means we get a bye in the 1st round of playoffs and then a home game in the 2nd round, which is really big," said Monyard "Especially if we want to go to nationals, it felt good to score early and then get the second one."
MUSTANGS KEY STATS
Alan Monyard
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- two goals
- four shots
- two shots on goal
Stefan Musta
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- one goal
- one shot on goal
Gavin Goddard
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- one assist
- three shots
- one shot on goal
Ennis Bernaus
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- one assist
- one shot
NEXT GAME
Western is headed to Sault Ste. Marie next weekend for a pair of games against Algoma.
"We've got 3 sessions in this week and then travel on Friday and get ready for Saturday and I think we're in a great position, so we just got to stay sharp, stay focused, looking forward to that trip and looking forward to finishing the regular season strong." said Painter.
The first game is set for Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, at 3:15 p.m.
