The McMaster men's lacrosse team made their way down the 401 on Friday evening to take on the CUFLA West conference leaders, the Western Mustangs. Unfortunately for the Marauders, their slow first half led to a 13-9 defeat.

The Mustangs opened the scoring early in the first quarter, before McMaster's Jamie Batten responded by cutting through the middle, receiving a pinpoint feed from Ryan Adams and beating the Mustang goalie with a quality shot. The opening 10 minutes saw both teams exchange a number of goal-scoring opportunities before Western went on a five-goal run, which proved to be too much for the Marauders to overcome. Mac went into the half trailing 7-2.

The Marauders seemed to respond to their coaching staff's message at half, and were able to match the Mustangs intensity and outscore their opponents 7-6 in the final 40 minutes.

"That's why teams like Western are always near the top of the standings," said McMaster coach Tallevi. "They work hard for a full 80 minutes and do all the little things well."

"We had a 15-minute lapse and Western made us pay. I really liked how we never quit and the effort we showed in the second half. We play them again in less than two weeks, and hopefully we can show that we have learned from our mistakes."

McMaster's offense was led by Mitch Iszulka, who tallied 3 goals and 2 assists, Ryan Adams collected 3 points, Derrick Hastings and Jamie Batten each had a pair of goals, while Brandon Burr had a goal and Brandon Petter added an assist.

The Marauders will take the week to prepare to host the Nipissing Lakers on Friday, October 16 at 8:00 p.m. and the Laurentian Voyageurs on Sunday, October 18 at 1:00 p.m.