Men's soccer suffers tough loss in season finale

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock Badgers men's soccer team (4-11-1 OUA) wrapped up their regular season with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Western Mustangs on Sunday.

The Badgers opened the scoring in the 3rd minute thanks to great ball movement.  Bobby Turnbull (Brantford, Ont.) brought the ball up along the sideline and passed into corner for Erik Van Wissen.  Van Wissen (Georgetown, Ont.) made a crossing pass into the box to George Chondronikolas (Mississauga, Ont.) who slid the ball to Kosta Krajisnik(Niagara Falls, Ont.).  Krajisnik hammered the ball home for his fifth goal of the season.

Western answered back five minutes later when Pat Mroczek headed home a cross from Jagger Hassan to even the score.

The game would remain knotted at one until stoppage time in the second half.  With just seconds remaining the Mustangs were awarded a free kick from just outside the penalty area.  Dom Bell blasted a shot through the Badger wall and scored to give his team the win.

In goal, two rookie keepers split time for the Badgers.  Stefan Avramovic (Stoney Creek, Ont.) and Jake Sweetzer (Mississauga, Ont.) each allowed one goal and made four saves in their half of play, with Sweetzer playing the second half and taking the loss.  Western's keeper, Andrew Murdoch, made two saves on three Badger shots.

The Badgers finshed the season in 8th place in the OUA West divison.  Krajisnik led the team in scoring, tallying five markers, with nine other players contributing goals on the year.  The team will be losing fifth-year seniors Dan Valentini (Stoney Creek, Ont.) and Matthew Green (Richmond Hill, Ont.) to graduation.