Box Score Penalties pushed McMaster ahead, and fouls kept them there Wednesday. Yunus Mollayev scored twice from the spot, before Windsor was eventually reduced to nine men and dumped out of the OUA playoffs 4-0 by the Marauders at Ron Joyce Stadium.
 
Dusan Kovacevic and Chris Luxton added goals for McMaster, who advanced to the OUA quarter-final stage with the victory.
 
Heading out on the road for whatever remains of their playoff journey, the Marauders will battle the Gryphons in Guelph Sunday for a place in the OUA Final Four, to be played at the home of the highest remaining seed in the OUA East division.
 
The Marauders and Gryphons drew both matches they played in the regular season, going goalless in their first meeting in Guelph on September 2, before playing to a 2-2 stalemate at Ron Joyce Stadium on September 14.
 
McMaster broke the deadlock early Wednesday, as referees adjudged a Lancer defender to have pushed Mollayev in the box, and the Marauders captain stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted home the penalty in the 15th minute.
 
Late pressure from the Windsor Lancers threatened to level the match before the halftime break, and Mac keeper Kieran Doyle-Davis was called upon to make an acrobatic save, palming a rising shot past the post, before the half was done.
 
But, having soaked up the worst of Windsor's onslaught, McMaster doubled their lead in the 63^rd, when Marco Gennaccaro was sent in alone on the Windsor goal and was brought down from behind by Marco Bernabo, who was issued a straight red card and ejected, reducing the Lancers to 10 men.
 
Mollayev once again took to the penalty spot, and despite a touch from goalkeeper Greg Chac, his effort rolled through for his second goal of the night.
 
14 minutes later, the situation worsened for the visiting Lancers, as Kovacevic added his name to the score sheet by taking down the bouncing ball on his chest and clipping a delicate shot past Chac.
 
Compounding matters, Windsor's lineup shrunk to nine men when Anthony Pollock was issued his second yellow card of the match in the aftermath of the goal and joined Bernabo in the dressing room.
 
From there, it was smooth sailing for the Marauders, and Luxton put the icing on the cake in injury time, wriggling free in acres of space behind the Windsor back line and eventually muscling the ball past Chac for his team's fourth goal.
 
McMaster's four-goal performance was its highest scoring effort at home in 2016.
 
UP NEXT: The Marauders travel to Guelph for an OUA quarter-final against the Gryphons on Sunday, October 30. That match gets underway at 3:00 p.m.