The Brock Badgers defeated the Windsor Lancers twice over the weekend, 6-1 on Friday night in Windsor and 1-0 on Sunday at Alumni Field, to clinch a playoff spot heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Game 1: Windsor 1, Brock 6
Four second-half goals by the Badgers plus braces by Malik Darbi and Noah Geyer ignited the road win for the Badgers, tallying their fourth straight victory.
Brock’s Nicholas Buccianti got the scoring started for the Badgers in the 12th minute, scoring his first career OUA goal after receiving a sweet pass from Nick Esperanca.
However, the Lancers quickly responded four minutes later with a goal of their own off the foot of Mason Bailey who tied the match at one.
In the 31st minute, Darbi — the Badgers’ Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending Sept. 29 — scored his first of two on the night, beating Windsor’s Simon Grande at the near post to give the visitors the 2-1 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half, Darbi wasted no time doubling Brock’s lead, needing just 28 seconds to bury his second of the match which also opened the floodgates for the Badgers.
Jake Kelly, fourth-year forward from East York, ON, followed suit scoring his first OUA goal after goalkeeper Taylor Miskolczi’s long ball found the foot of Sebastian Petrilli who spotted an open Kelly to grow the lead.
Ten minutes later, Darbi was once again influential picking out Geyer who deflected Darbi’s cross over the outstretched arm of Grande, before beating Grande again a minute later to make it a five-goal lead.
Between the sticks, Miskolczi had a dominant performance, making 11 saves in the contest — a season-high for the Welland-native — as nine of them came in the second half.
The Lancers ended up outshooting the Badgers 20-11 in the contest, but it was all for nothing as Brock won 6-1 to pull within one win of a playoff berth.
Game 2: Brock 1, Windsor 0
Conrad Czarnecki’s penalty spot goal fueled a day of celebration for the Badgers, beginning with recognizing seven graduating players on Senior’s Night and ending by securing their spot in the OUA playoffs.
After Windsor’s Noah Branco was called for a tackle in the box, Czarnecki buried his fourth goal of the season from the penalty spot, giving the Badgers the 1-0 lead 21 minutes into the match.
The Badgers kept their foot on the gas, berating Grande with nine shots in the first and 10 in the second, as the fifth-year Windsor keeper made eight saves in the contest, taking a page out of Miskolczi’s book from two nights before.
For Miskolczi, despite not being tested as much, he remained dominant, stopping all three shots on goal he faced, earning the 1-0 victory and third clean sheet of the season in what could be the final home game for the graduating goalkeeper.
In three seasons with the Badgers, Miskolczi appeared in 34 games, including starting 10 games this season, while being named as an OUA West First Team All-Star and U Sports Second Team All-Canadian in the 2022 season.
His goalkeeping counterpart Calum Morrison, who is also graduating, has started three games for the Badgers, as the Sport Management major’s first win and clean sheet came in a 2-0 victory over Algoma on Sept. 30, 2023.
On the backline, graduating defender Antonio DiGiovanni has appeared in 30 games over three seasons, including starting 22 of them, while fellow graduating defender Ilija Pavicic has appeared in all 11 games this season and has started one.
In the midfield, graduating Sebastian Petrilli has recorded two goals and two assists in 43 games and 24 starts across four seasons with the Badgers.
On attack, Jake Kelly will graduate having appeared in 32 games in four seasons, scoring his first career goal in Friday’s win over Windsor.
Fellow forward Nick Esperanca, who recorded an assist in Friday’s contest, has registered a goal and an assist in 18 games for the Badgers while being named as an OUA Second Team All-Star last season.
The graduating seniors and the Badgers will look to end the regular season with a sixth straight win when they travel to Toronto and take on the OUA West-leading York Lions on Oct. 13, before their OUA playoff quest begins on Oct. 19 against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
For more information about the Badgers men’s soccer team, head to gobadgers.ca.