The Brock Badgers men's soccer team took on the Carleton Ravens on Wednesday, November 1 in the OUA semifinals, their first appearance since 2006.
It was a great effort from the Badgers in Ottawa, but the Ravens took the contest on penalties 4-3, winning the game by a final score of 2-1.
The Badgers opened the scoring in the 27th minute as a corner kick from Luca Danesi soared over multiple players including Carleton's goalkeeper Tyler David. Defender Connor Carroll was at the right post where the ball ended up and tapped it in for the first goal of the contest.
Brock goalkeeper Taylor Miskolczi made his best save of the half as Carleton had a great chance in stoppage time off a redirected free kick. The stop kept the game at 1-0 in favour of the Badger as the two teams headed to halftime.
In the second half, a penalty kick was awarded to the Ravens in the 52nd minute and Luca Piccioli tied things up.
The Ravens kept pressuring after the goal, but the Badgers were up to the task. Michael Solomon sent in a free kick in the 67th minute but David turned it away to keep things tied.
In the 84th minute, with Miskolczi off his line, the Ravens had a wide-open net, but the shot from Mohamed Bouzidi sailed high, keeping things tied at 1-1.
Despite some back-and-forth action, no team was able to get the go-ahead goal and the game went into extra time.
The first 15 minutes of extra time saw neither squad gain a true advantage as the game remained deadlocked.
A Brock kick from midfield at the start of the second half of extra time nearly produced a goal as the ball hit the crossbar. After over two hours of play, the score remained tied at one.
Conrad Czarnecki and Michael Fernandez scored the first two penalty kicks for the Badgers which was answered by the Ravens.
Saves from David on the next two Badgers' kicks gave the Ravens the advantage. The Ravens only scored one of their next two as Miskolczi made a huge two-hand save to keep the Badgers' hopes alive.
Badgers' goal scoring leader Marc Iantomasi came up with the Badgers down 3-2 on penalties in a must score situation. The fifth-year winger put the ball just under the crossbar to even things us.
The Ravens were denied on their next kick as Miskolczi dove to his right for the save, sending the game into sudden death penalty kicks.
A Badgers' miss was contrasted by a goal from Carleton's Eric Yoseke, giving the win in favour of the home side.
The season ends for the Badgers after the close loss to the Ravens. With their best finish since 2006, Brock remains optimistic for what is to come as they try to make their way back to the Final Four and beyond next season.
