Mustangs drop 2025 season opener 3-0 to Waterloo

London, ON — The Mustangs dropped a 3-0 loss to the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night.

In the first half, the Mustangs recorded six shots, but could not convert any into goals. The Warriors capitalized on their opportunities, taking a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute. Western also suffered an early loss in their lineup when Stefan Musta received a second yellow card of the match and was ejected from the game, reducing the team to ten players.

"The opening 30 minutes were really good, we were the dominant team but didn't take advantage of a couple of opportunities," said Mustangs Head Coach Martin Painter. "It's tough to play 60 minutes with 10 men. Some good efforts, but we have a lot of work on credit to Waterloo. They scored some good goals. They punished us when they got their opportunities."
Waterloo extended their lead in the second half with two goals, securing a 3-0 victory over the Mustangs.

Western had opportunities with two corner kicks and multiple shots, including two by Fayo Adeyemo that went wide.

Reflecting on the match, Painter noted, "We need to be better and we need to avoid the mistakes we made. Most games are going to come down to mistakes and big moments. They took advantage of them, and we made some mistakes which were costly,"

Both sides will be back on the pitch on Sunday afternoon in Waterloo.

"There'll be some lessons we've got to learn from this, so we'll just bounce back Sunday, hopefully this is kind of a low point that we just grow from." said Painter.

Sunday's match is set for 3:15 pm.