Brock men’s lacrosse team’s strong season comes to a finish after a loss at the Baggataway Cup this past weekend.
After knocking off Wilfrid Laurier in a qualifying match at Alumni Field, the Badgers traveled to Peterborough on Nov. 3rd to play their opening match of the tournament for the National Championship.
Brock has the most Baggataway Cup championships of any school with 19 (Western is in second place with seven) and are looking to reclaim the title after relinquishing their 2021 title crown to Trent University Excalibur in 2022.
Fittingly, Trent would be the first stop on this road as Brock’s quarter-final matchup on Nov. 3rd.
Trent found the net first, but their advantage was quickly wiped away by a Jaden Patterson goal, and six minutes later, Patterson added another, turning it into a 2-1 Brock lead at the first quarter’s conclusion.
From there until the fourth quarter, the Badgers and Excalibur traded every goal. Trent tied the game two minutes into the second, Brock gave themselves a lead again six minutes later. Three minutes later they tied it again, and two minutes later the Badgers brought back the lead. This pattern continued with both teams tied at five until, with 12 minutes remaining, Brock strung three goals together, two from Mitchell Zulian and one from Colton Armitage.
Trent would add two more, but it was too little, too late: Brock moved on to the semi-finals, winning 9-7.
Saturday’s game on Nov. 4th was a much more daunting task for the Badgers, playing the Western Mustangs.
While Trent was the East division’s second-seed, Western led the entire CUFLA with nine wins to only one loss, coupled with an insane +72 goal differential.
To make matters worse, the Badgers struggled mightily against Western all season, losing handily in both their meetings, 8-4 and 12-2.
Unfortunately, there was no Cinderella-story to be had that day; the Mustangs quickly made the Badgers mincemeat.
Like clockwork Western scored two goals in the first, two more in the second and two more in the third quarter.
Western added their first of the fourth quarter and, finally breaking the pattern and showing Brock’s first sign of life that evening, Jaden Patterson scored for the Badgers.
Patterson’s goal was the lone marker for the Badgers. To add insult to injury, Western potted two more near the game’s closing, rolling to a comfortable 9-1 victory.
Saturday’s loss marks the end of the road for the Badgers. Though not at the National Championship level of 2021, this year was a strong one for the Badgers and an improvement on the 2022 regular season.
There were also some big bright spots up front for Brock this season.
Jaden Patterson had a great season creating for himself and others and finished fifth in the CUFLA with 15 assists in 10 games. He was also Brock’s clear playoff MVP with six goals and eight points in three games.
Though he only found the scoreboard once in the playoffs, Avery Steinbach-Parker was the Badgers’ biggest offensive catalyst all regular season. The Fort Erie product’s 18 goals and 27 points were good for fourth place in both categories among Western division players.
Despite the frustrating loss, the Badgers should look to come back again next season to compete for the National Championship as they always do.
