LONDON, Ont. - A year that seen much success ended in defeat as the Western Mustangs men's and women's curling teams both failed to capture the national championship this season in Edmonton.
The beginning of the season seen much success for both the men's and women's teams. They each advanced to the OUA championships for the third straight year. Women's skip Holly Nicol (Markham, Ont.) and men's skip Evan Lilly (Sudbury, Ont.) led their teams to wins at the OUA Crossovers in Peterborough, Ont. to secure the spot at the Championships.
At the OUA Championships in Waterloo, Ont. it was another golden moment for the men's curling team. The team captured their second straight OUA gold medal with a thrilling 9-8 win over Toronto in extra ends. For the women's team at the OUA championship, it wasn't as golden after an upsetting 9-5 loss to Wilfrid Laurier in the semi-finals. The women's team wound up finishing in third place.
As both teams headed into the CCA/CIS National Championships sights were set high. The women's team slipped up early and weren't able to qualify for the semi-finals, winning two games in the round-robin ended their successful season competing against the best University teams in the country. The finsihed the tournament in a tie for seventh position due to round robin standings.
The Men's curling team fought tooth and nail to wind up in a tie for fourth place in the round-robin but that's as far as they would get. The team fell 6-3 to UPEI in a tie-breaker to end their season and their hope for a national title.
With both men's and women's team seeing a great deal of success ok the ice this season, there was also much individual success to go around as well.
Bringing home some major hardware as the OUA Coach of the Year is Western's head coach Rory Munro. He helped coach three of his men's players and one woman to spots on the OUA all-star teams as well. Micky Lizmore (London, Ont.) and Joey Lanthier (Lively, Ont.) got nods on the OUA Men's first team all-star roster as in the Vice and Second position respectively. Megan Balsdon (Toronto) gained honours by making the women's fist team all-star roster in the Vice position.
With a lot of accolades this season, the goals are set high for next year where the men's team will look to three-peat at the OUA Championships and both teams will look to compete for a national championship.
