Broncos stumped by Trojans in men's soccer home opener

Olds College Sports Information
September 11, 2022

OLDS, Alta. - Nico Gonzalez's goal early in the second half was all the SAIT Trojans needed, as they defeated the Olds College Broncos 1-0 in the Broncos home opener at Richardson Pioneer Field on Sunday.

Marko Ilich registered the clean sheet for SAIT (2-0-0) with four saves, while Joao Batista made one save to keep the Broncos (0-1-0) in it throughout the afternoon.

Batista earned The Pit BBQ Player of the Game honours for the Broncos, while Gonzalez was named SAIT's Player of the Game.

The tightly-contested, physical encounter saw a total of five bookings, with SAIT picking up three yellow cards (Connor Stabler, Ilich, and Victor Libardi) to two for Olds College (Jacob Duyvesteyn and Harman Singh Boparai).

Both teams battled hard throughout the matchup, and the scoreless stalemate persisted through halftime.

Then, in the 57th minute, Gonzalez, who had been dangerous all afternoon, broke through after picking up a rebound off the initial shot from Kwasi Oteng and slotted it past Batista to give SAIT their cushion.

The Broncos' best chance came off a Valentin Kirchner free kick in the dying stages of added time, but Ilich was there to handle the shot to preserve the victory for the Trojans.

The Broncos will head south next weekend to face the Lethbridge College Kodiaks (Saturday at 2 p.m.) and Medicine Hat College Rattlers (Sunday at 2 p.m.), while SAIT will play in Medicine Hat on Saturday before hosting Lethbridge on Sunday at 2 p.m.