Mustangs Weekly Round-Up Nov. 9-11, 2007

 

FOOTBALL

Western wins 27th Yates Cup in team history

GUELPH, Ont. - The moral of this story is: never give up.

After four losses to start the season and early struggles on offence, the Western Mustangs persevered and won the Yates Cup OUA football championship to book a date in the CIS semi-finals.

Senior Randy McAuley (London, Ont.) scored three touchdowns as the No. 10 Western Mustangs won their seventh straight game, 34-21, in front of a sold out crowd of 8,500 at Alumni Stadium in Guelph on Nov. 10.

The Purple and White never gave up. Not after an 0-4 start, not after battling through injury, and not even when they knew they’d have to play every playoff game on the road.

The game was closely contested with both teams taking a number of penalties in the opening half. But in the second, Western exploded for two touchdowns and a pair of field goals en route to victory.

The Mustangs, now being coined “Road Warriors”, will travel to Winnipeg to play the University of Manitoba Bisons for the Mitchell Bowl on Nov. 17 (3 p.m. Central, 4 p.m. Eastern Time).

This was the 15th Yates Cup victory for Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall who won three as a player and now 12 as a coach. It was Western’s first Yates Cup win since 1998.

It was Guelph that suffered the most from the flags as they took two penalties that cost them possession changes in the opening half.

McAuley led both teams with three touchdowns and finished with 162 yards on the ground. Anthony Adderley scored another for Western and Derek Schiavone kicked two field goals from 36 and 30 yards out.

Dave Harrison and Adam Slomer caught touchdown passes from pivot Justin Dunk, while Nate FitzGibbon ran in for another for Guelph.

Player of the game Michael Faulds finished 23/41 for 390 yards to pace the Mustangs. He ran for 30 yards as well.

The teams played as expected in the opening quarter, with running backs McAuley and FitzGibbon getting the lion's share of the ball.

Western started out strong and looked good to score on the opening possession.

McAuley gave Western great field position after returning the opening kickoff near midfield, but Western took a delay of game penalty to put them in tough early on at first and 15.

Then senior receiver David Clayton made a big catch off a Michael Faulds pass for 34-yard gain taking the ball into Guelph territory. But Western went two and out on the next possession.

It was a defensive struggle early on.

Guelph QB Justin Dunk took a lot of hits early, but along with FitzGibbon's great short-side runs was good in scrambling.

Later in the quarter, Western eventually got to the Gryphons quarterback with a sack and several hits under pressure just as he was releasing the ball to prevent the Gryphons offence from long possessions.

The teams exchanged a pair of two-and-outs and then FitzGibbon ran the ball into Western territory with gains of 21 and 11 yards.

With wide receiver Dave Harrison wide open in the end zone, it looked as though the Gryphons would score the opening touchdown. But the receiver dropped the ball despite being wide open.

The teams exchanged unnecessary penalties on the next few possessions and several two and outs.

After a roughing the kicker call against Guelph, Clayton started a Mustangs drive that led to the opening points. It was penalties that cost Guelph momentum and possession throughout the game.

A first down pass to Clayton for 49 yards gave Western the ball on the Guelph 16-yard-line. Then on second down Anthony Adderley moved the ball to the Guelph five yard line.

McAuley opened the scoring with 1:41 left running behind Western’s “big” lineup that includes defensive lineman Vaughn Martin. It was 7-0 Mustangs after a Derek Schiavone convert.

Western forced another Guelph punt to open the second quarter still leading 7-0.

Gryphon Grant MacDonald blocked a punt but it was negated after an illegal interference call against Guelph returned possession to Western.

On Guelph’s next possession, Harrison made amends making a huge catch with five minutes for a 40-yard gain. Then on next play FitzGibbon ran right up middle for a 55-yard scoring play to tie the game at 7-7 with four minutes to go in the opening half.

On the next Western possession, the Mustangs came out looking to respond.

With two huge plays - a 24-yard catch-and-run to McAuley off a screen and then a 49-yard strike to Zach Bull - the Mustangs moved the ball to the four yard line.

McAuley scored his second touchdown of the game on the next play with some great blocking an high stepping in for the score to lift Western to a 14-7 lead that stood at the half.

Nick Kordic picked off Dunk on first possession of second half.

After a great grab by Lorne Foster, Harrison jumped over top of Kelvin Mwangi to pull in the ball in the end zone to tie the game at 14-14 with a 24-yard touchdown catch.

Then, after a bad snap, Faulds was picked off by Jamie Shaw on second down with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter and Guelph took momentum.

But they host Gryphons couldn't capitalize.

Adrian Kaiser recovered a Guelph fumble on a punt-return by Sean Riley late in the third quarter and then Schiavone gave Western the 17-14 lead with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.

Two possessions later, Mike Hegarty had a beautiful catch and run for 29 yards. Then McAuley continued the drive with a spectacular catch and run for a first down.

McAuley continued his torrid pace for another first down on the ground on the next play with just over 10 minutes left in the game.

Then Adderley scored his TD on a catch from 11 yards out with nine minutes remaining.

The Mustangs defence gave Western a huge big stop on third down as Dunk kept the ball with about seven minutes remaining and Western's defence forces the turnover on downs.

Schiavone kicked a 30-yard field goal to make it 27-14.

And after a beautiful interception courtesy of Craig Butler with 3:26 left, Faulds earned a first down on a play-action quarterback curl.

Then McAuley ran for a first down to set up a 20 yard run for his third touchdown of the game with two minutes remaining to make it 34-14 for Western.

After a needless Mustang penalty, London native Adam Slomer caught a 12-yard pass with one minute remaining to score the game's final TD. After the convert, the score was 34-21.

But Adderley caught the onside kick to give Western possession and they ran the clock out to win the game.

 

MEN'S SOCCER NATIONALS

Daoust leads Stangs to CIS podium and bronze medal

VANCOUVER (CIS) – In a rematch of this year’s OUA final, the Western Ontario Mustangs upended the York Lions 4-1 to claim the bronze at the 2007 CIS men’s soccer championship.

Led by fourth-year striker and player of the game Michel Daoust’s (Hunter River, P.E.I.) two goals, Western avenged their 3-2 loss to York in the conference final one week ago.

“Overall I am very happy with the weekend,” said Mustangs head coach Rock Basacco. “Anytime you can score four goals on a team like York, you know you have had a good game. I thought the boys played well today and I give them a lot of credit for coming out here and playing hard after our tough game yesterday.”

Daoust gave the Mustangs a 2-0 lead just before half, slotting home a ball from fellow striker Mike Shawchuk (London, Ont.) from 10 yards out. He then made it 3-0 on a 50th minute breakaway, as he was sent in alone by Yianni Mavrikos (Victoria) and beat Lions keeper Pablo Alvardo (Toronto) low and to the right.

“We finished on our chances and got one early, which really helped us out and allowed us to just go kill it out in the second half,” said Daoust. “Obviously I have mixed feelings about the weekend, since we came here wanting to bring home the gold, but it is always good to finish with a win.”

The Mustangs took the early lead, as winger Kyle Washington (Carp, Ont.) finished a flicked on header from Paul Seymour (Nepean, Ont.) past a charging Alvardo in the 14th minute.

Daoust also set-up the Mustangs fourth goal in injury time, streaking down the right wing and feeding Daniel Ramos (Burlington, Ont.) who one-timed the pass underneath the Lions keeper from 16 yards.

Lions forward Jeffrey Da Cruz (Barrie, Ont.) had put the Lions on the board in the 80th minute, redirecting a low cross from Francesco Bruno (Toronto, Ont.) into the far corner past all-Canadian keeper Haider Al-Shaibani.

The Mustangs were appearing in their eighth CIS championship in 12 years, including back-to-back Sam Davidson Memorial Trophy wins in 1998 and 1999, and equaled their most recent bronze-medal performance from 2004.

This was the Lions first appearance since 1997, when they also finished fourth.

 

SCORING SUMMARY

First Half:

UWO, Kyle Washington (Paul Seymour), 13th

UWO, Michel Daoust (Mike Sawchuk), 45th

Second Half:

UWO, Michel Daoust (Yiannis Mavrikos), 50th

YORK, Jeffrey Da Cruz (Francesco Bruno), 79th

UWO, Daniel Ramos (Michel Daoust), 90th

Goalies:

Haidar Al-Shaibani, UWO (W, 1 GA, 1 save, 90 mins)

Pablo Alvardo, York (L, 4 GA, 1 save, 90 mins)

Shots: UWO 15, York 11

Shots on Net: UWO 5, York 2

Corners: York 6, UWO 2

Offsides: York 5, UWO 2

Fouls: UWO 11, York 11

Yellow Cards: (York) Jody Forno (2), Nana Attakora-Gyan, Gerard Ladiyou (UWO) Scott Cameron, Glenn Chambers, Evan Kadet

Red Cards: (York) Jody Forno (2YC)

Player of the game: Michel Daoust, UWO

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL / Pacific Time)

Thursday, Nov. 8

Quarter-final #1: Western Ontario 1, Trinity Western 0 (5-3 PK)

Quarter-final #2: Laval 3, Cape Breton 0

Quarter-final #3: York 2, Saint Mary’s 1

Quarter-final #4: UBC 2, Montreal 0

Friday, Nov. 9

Consolation #1: Trinity Western 1, Cape Breton 0 (4-2 PK)

Consolation #2: Saint Mary’s 1, Montreal 0 (6-5 PK)

Saturday, Nov. 10

5th place game: Trinity Western 1, Saint Mary’s 0

Semi-final #1: Laval 2, Western Ontario 1

Semi-final #2: UBC 2, York 1 (OT)

Sunday, Nov. 11

Bronze medal: Western Ontario 4, York 1

Gold medal: UBC defeated Laval

 

CROSS COUNTRY NATIONALS

Angrand places third at nationals

VICTORIA, B.C. - It was an up and down day for the Western Mustangs at the 28th women's and 45th men's annual CIS national cross-country championships on Nov. 10 at Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, B.C.

Western's Leila Angrand completed her university cross-country career with her best finish ever, taking the bronze medal, earning All-Canadian honours for the third time and first-team All-Canadian honours for the first time.

"The weather was grand, the course well planned and lined with a large crowd of spectators," said head coach Bob Vigars.

"From an overall team perspective, it was a disappointing performance for us on both the women's and men's sides after a strong season to date," Vigars said. "However, with the exception of the Windsor women and Dalhousie men, the teams that beat us were ones we had not seen before."

"Our below par performance as a team was certainly not for lack of effort. The hearts were big, but the legs were heavy."

Hilary Egan finished in 48th place, 28 places ahead of her 76th spot at last year's Nationals.

Leading the men was Nathan de Witt who ran a solid race, achieving his second best 10km of the season. His 23rd-place finish was 10 spots better than last year.

Rookie Kyle O'Neill was the 2nd best freshman in the nation, and his 32:45 time was only 12 seconds off his performance two weeks ago at Thames Valley.

He missed making the 2nd Team All-Canadian team by one spot.

 

MEN'S HOCKEY

Western 6 Brock 0

LONDON, Ont. - Playing their third game in five nights, the Brock Badgers ran out of gas losing to the Western Mustangs 6-0 on Saturday Nov. 10.

The Mustangs led 2-0 entering the third period before scoring four goals and riding the goaltending performance of Brad Topping to victory.

Kevin Richardson scored twice for the Mustangs, and defenceman Matt Manias added four assists.

Western entered the Top 10 rankings on Tuesday Nov. 13 thanks in large part to this win but has a difficult week hosting Guelph on Nov. 15, travelling to play at Brock Nov. 17 before returning home to host Windsor at 7 p.m. on Nov. 18.

The Mustangs boast a 6-2-0-2 record entering the week and are in second place in the OUA Far West division and tied for second in the West Conference.

Guelph (6-4-0-1) and Brock (8-2-0-2) are both strong teams above .500, while Windsor is 1-8 so far this season.

"We had an advantage against Brock in that last game as it was their third game in five nights," said head coach Clarke Singer. "They were tired and clearly not at their best. The advantage was there for us and we took it."

Western scored four goals on the powerplay, a welcome improvement to special teams, Singer said.

"We competed hard and played our most competitive game of the season," he said. "We needed to improve on special teams, and that's a step in the right direction."

Singer said the league has been as competitive as he expected.

"It's not just the competitiveness in the Far West Division," he said, "it's the whole Western conference that's competitive. Anyone can win on any night. It's exactly what we expected. It's going to be a fight every game to get to the playoffs."

Singer said he was also impressed with the play of Brad Topping, who shutout a Badgers team that was previously ranked No. 5 in the nation.

"Topper came through for us in the third period," Singer said. "But it's still early enough in our year and we have a lot of work to do still in a lot of areas."

Western's game on Nov. 15 at Thompson Arena goes at 7 p.m.