In front of a packed crowd, the Brock men's lacrosse team earned their third win of the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) regular season on Saturday (Sept. 30), defeating the Laurentian Voyageurs by a score of 21-0 at Brock Alumni Field.
The Badgers got the night started with a flurry of goals, taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
The second quarter saw much of the same as the Badgers added four more to hold an 11-0 advantage.
In the third, the Badgers extended their lead with three goals to make it 14-0.
Brock cruised to a 21-0 victory as they added seven more in the final quarter.
The Badgers experienced a balanced attack in the contest with a whopping 15 players scoring goals. Noah Simonelli and Mitchell Zulian scored three each, while Avery Steinbach-Parker and Nolan Fehr had two apiece. Steinbach-Parker added three assists as well.
Eric Andrew, Harrison Brooks, Aidan Buis, James Gowland, Matthew Hertner, Trent Hunter, Andrew Kidd, Matthew LaBute, Blair Pachereva, Jaden Patterson and Brodie Thoms all found the back of the net once on the night.
Patterson led the team with four assists, while Mitchell Armstrong, Braedon Mair, Benjamin Wittich along with Hunter and Thoms had one helper each.
Goalies Jaxon Longboat and Connor Scott earned a combined shutout. Longboat started the game and played the first half, while Scott came in after the halftime break.
Before the contest, there was a show of Indigenous culture with drumming and a participatory round dance. The players and coaches also donned orange jerseys and polos to help commemorate the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. In addition, there was a moment of silence before the contest to remember and honour the victims and survivors of Canadian residential schools.
Head coach Vince Longboat reflected on the crowd and the atmosphere of the game.
"During the whole ceremonies pregame, there's really no words for the emotion that it set forward for our guys. Hopefully, it's something we'll build on from for next year because we're going to continue this. It's more about the education piece as there were ladies walking up and down during the game educating people. It was really fantastic to see the crowd and the reception of everything today."
Longboat gave high praise to the two goalies who combined for the shutout.
"Jaxon and Connor both played great. It's hard for a goalie when you don't get shots, so they both stood tall when they were called upon."
Moving forward, the head coach is positive in how the team will perform against Guelph in their rematch.
"I'm confident in the guys and their abilities. We've played that tough team, and we're going to build on that. We got a few things to work on and we'll get through a lot of that stuff in practice. As long as we do what we did tonight, we should able to come out on top."
Up next, the Badgers (3-1) return to Alumni Field to play against the Guelph Gryphons (4-1) on Friday, October 6. Game time is set for 8 p.m.
BADGERS AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 3-1
Conference Record: 3-1
Next game: Friday, Oct. 6 vs Guelph Gryphons • 8 p.m. - Brock Alumni Field
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