Brock University Athletics

The Brock men's lacrosse team celebrates one of their fourth quarter goals en route to a win over Western on Thursday, Oct. 14.

Men's Lacrosse 10/14/2021 11:50:00 PM Stephen Leithwood

Late-game rally powers Badgers past Mustangs

The Brock men's lacrosse team scored seven unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to defeat the Western Mustangs 13-8 during a night game at Alumni Field on Thursday, Oct. 14.

The Badgers, who previously lost to Western in London on Oct. 8, moved into first place in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association's (CUFLA) West Division with a record of 4-1.

"One of our edges in competition is how well our bench does at keeping the morale up for the guys on the field," said head coach Vince Longboat. "It's the guys on the bench who keep everyone up when the going gets tough. They push the guys on the field. We saw the impact they had tonight."

The race to the top of the West Division begins to tighten up as No. 2 Western visits No. 3 Guelph on Sunday, Oct. 17.

Brock has one final regular-season game remaining: away at Guelph on Sunday, Oct. 24.

"We cleaned up our mistakes this time against Western," Longboat said. "We played extremely well against one of the top teams. It's going to come down to us, Western and Guelph. We'll watch their game on Sunday with great interest."

The Badgers stormed out to a 3-0 lead early in the first and carried a 5-3 into halftime on Thursday night.

Western outscored Brock 4-1 in the third as both teams traded leads.

The Mustangs led 8-6 before the Badgers lit up the fourth quarter with seven consecutive goals to capture the win.

Alex Pace scored a hat trick and registered four assists to lead the Badgers' offence.

Sam Leclair was credited with the game-winner as he finished with three goals while Nathan Braniff netted three goals and added an assist.

Aidan Buis tallied his two goals and an assist in the fourth frame to extend Brock's lead.

"Aidan is a consistent player who is solid at both ends of the field. He's one of our leaders who is one of our top guys," Longboat said. "He's very reliable and can't say enough about a player like that."

Tyrus Rehanek and Mitchell Zulian each added a goal.

Goaltender Simon Bellamy earned the win in net while Boedy Shields made several shut-down defensive plays to nullify the Mustangs and any hope of getting back into the game.

"Boedy is a great short-stick defender. He's a reliable player who we can put on the field and not worry about," Longboat said. "He played extremely well tonight. I wouldn't take him off the field. He works hard in practice and does his job on the field."

Brock Western — Aidan Buis of the Brock men's lacrosse team scored twice in the fourth quarter to help sink the Mustangs.

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Players Mentioned

#20 Simon Bellamy: 6' 1"; Fourth Year

#19 Nathan Braniff: 6' 0"; Second Year

#8 Aidan Buis: 5' 11"; Third Year

#2 Sam Leclair: 5' 10"; Third Year

#16 Tyrus Rehanek: 5' 9"; Fourth Year

#88 Boedy Shields: 6' 0"; Third Year

#12 Mitchell Zulian: 5' 10"; Second Year

Players Mentioned

#20 Simon Bellamy
: 6' 1"; Fourth Year

#19 Nathan Braniff
: 6' 0"; Second Year

#8 Aidan Buis
: 5' 11"; Third Year

#2 Sam Leclair
: 5' 10"; Third Year

#16 Tyrus Rehanek
: 5' 9"; Fourth Year

#88 Boedy Shields
: 6' 0"; Third Year

#12 Mitchell Zulian
: 5' 10"; Second Year

Brock University Athletics

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned