TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams secured a 4-1 win over the Mustangs on Wednesday night to earn a one game advantage in the OUA quarter-final.

Jared Walsh (Toronto) scored the game-winner on a feed from Jesse Barwell (Oakville, Ont.) and Matt Mistele (Whitby, Ont.). Mistele picked up another helper on Mathew Santos' (Toronto) opening power play goal. Gregory DiTomaso (Etobicoke, Ont.) also had a pair of assists while Santos added one himself for two points each on the night. Meanwhile, Patrick Fellows (Mississauga, Ont.) slotted his second goal of the playoffs and David Miller (Burlington, Ont.) added another insurance marker. 

Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va.) made 27 saves in the victory while preserving his stingy goals-against-average. Surprisingly, the Rams were outshot 28-23 by Western. Ryerson's four goals on just 23 shots came against one of the reigning U SPORTS athletes of the week in Mustangs goalie Luke Peresinni. 

Peressini had a busy first period in net, turning aside all but one of the Rams' eleven shots. 

Before Santos' opening goal, Peressini snuffed out two chances from Marcus Hinds (Toronto), a Devon Paliani (LaSalle, Ont.) shot from alone in front, and a Mistele backhander. 

With two minutes to go in the first, Western's Rylan Bechtel tripped up Mistele, sending the Rams to the power play. It took just thirty seconds for Santos to walk in and light the lamp. After DiTomaso kept the puck in and fed it to the winger, he blasted it in off the post, leaving no chance for the netminder.

The Rams' 1-0 edge held up after the last minute of the first as they maintained an 11-8 shot advantage.  

Early in the second, the Rams had little trouble killing off a Santos tripping call. Just a minute after the kill, Barwell got the puck to Walsh at the point. The defenceman fired a snapshot from a sharp angle through a screened Peressini to put Ryerson up a pair. 

Five minutes later, Forrest made a smothering stop from the edge of his crease. With the Western forwards deep, a rush from DiTomaso and a clean pass from Paliani allowed Fellows to snipe a short-side shot to make it 3-0. 

After the Rams failed to convert on another power play, Ryerson picked up back-to-back penalties themselves. Western had a goal called off during the first power play, but scored a definite goal off a keen passing play in the second man-advantage late in the period. Mustang Sean Montgomery finished off the play for the goal.

Despite Forrest's shutout effort coming to an end, the Rams were up 3-1 after forty. 

The opening half of the third frame saw some tight checking from both squads while Western's desperation mounted. Just over halfway through the period, Miller poked a rebound in through the five hole off of Andrew Mullen's (Toronto) shot, extending the Rams' cushion to 4-1. 

Late in the game, some high-sticks and roughing sent some skaters to the box. Walsh was on the receiving end of most of the scrum, suffering a minor cut on his lip. The Rams were given another power play, but failed to convert, solidifying the score at 4-1. Meanwhile, their man-advantage unit went 1-for-3 on the night. 

A stitched-up Walsh was seen smiling post-game. "They're (Western) a pretty physical team. Playoffs kind of amplifies that. We wanted to be physical back, which I think we were," said the defenceman.

Head coach Johnny Duco also spoke to the physical side of Western's play in the match. "I'm not surprised they played pretty physical and tough defensively." The coach also acknowledged the initial challenge of Western's goaltending. "We really wanted to test (Peressini), put a lot of rubber at him, we know he's an elite goalie. Obviously we didn't get nearly as many shots as we'd like to, but guys beared down around the net." 

With a potential elimination game coming on Saturday in game two, plenty of Rams will look to advance past the second round for the first time in their Ryerson careers.

"We're doing whatever it takes to get past the second round here, which seems to be our kryptonite," added the third-year Walsh. 

"We'll do whatever we can to end it Saturday," said Duco. 

Puck drop on Saturday in game two is set for 3:00 p.m. in London. The action can be streamed live at OUA.TV.