The George Brown Huskies men's soccer team pulled off the upset in their semifinal match, defeating the Seneca Sting 2-1 on Friday (Oct. 29th) afternoon at Acumen Stadium in Windsor, Ont.
The victory marks the first time the Huskies will play for the gold medal at the OCAA Championship since 2007. They also made history, clinching a berth at the CCAA National Championship for the first time in program history.
"It's fantastic that we're off to the OCAA final and the CCAA National Championship," head coach Johnny Williams said. "I'm extremely proud of the guys for all the hard work, adversity, tenacity and determination throughout the season. We can't wait to battle for gold tomorrow, but I'm thrilled that we booked our ticket to Nationals."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The odds were against the Huskies once again. They came in as the underdogs for the third straight playoff match and dropped both regular season meetings to the Seneca Sting. Despite it raining the entire day, George Brown struck first.
In the 10th minute, first-year midfielder Alon Steinback ran down the left wing and attempted a cross to the middle of the box. As the ball was going to the far post, a Seneca defender dove to break up the play but redirected it to the back of their net for an own goal.
11 minutes later, the Huskies doubled their lead with credit given to Christopher Badibengi. Hans-Conny Chery sent a lob to Seneca's backline, and Badibengi took it from there. He outmuscled three Sting defenders and pushed the ball by a sparling goalkeeper to make it 2-0 in the 21st minute. The Huskies maintained that lead at halftime.
In the second half, George Brown locked it down defensively until the 78th minute. Off a corner kick, Zak Zatoli placed a perfect header top corner to cut the deficit in half. Seneca was unable to score the equalizer the rest of the way.
Head coach Williams believes goalkeeper Aubrey Lowe was a major reason the Huskies held off the Sting throughout the match.
"Our goalie, Lowe, made a huge difference. He has good feet, very athletic and knows how to manage a match. It's essentially like having an extra player out there, and he did a fantastic job today."
UP NEXT: The Huskies will battle the CCAA No. 1 Humber Hawks for the gold medal tomorrow at 4pm. If George Brown wins, it will mark the program's first OCAA Championship since 1973.
Despite the outcome, the Huskies will travel to Calgary, Alta., for the CCAA National Championship between November 8th to 13th.