The Oakville Soccer Club wrapped up its second campaign in the Ontario Premier League (formerly League1 Ontario) this August, bringing the 2026 season to a close. With another year in the books, OSC looks back on the season and reflects on the highlights, milestones, and moments that shaped the 2026 campaign. Despite struggles with injuries, OSC’s OPL Men’s team improved on its inaugural 2025 campaign, finishing in third place – two places and 12 points up from the season prior.
The 2026 campaign saw head coach Duncan Wilde and his staff masterfully utilize OSC’s OPL pathway to its maximum potential. After an excellent recruitment period in preseason preparation, injuries struck in the second half of the season. With the team at the top of the table around the halfway point of 2026, younger players stepped into the fold, and stepped up with excellent play, leading to a 3rd place finish overall. As a result, OSC’s OPL Men greatly exceeded the Ontario Premier League’s U23 and U20 player minutes requirements. Wilde’s side accumulated 17,299 U23 minutes (3rd best in OPL1) and 6,894 U20 minutes compared to the required 9,000 and 1,250 minutes respectively.
Head Coach Duncan Wilde spoke on the past campaign: “Following a very positive off season recruitment initiative, confidence within the group was very positive to seriously contend with the top teams within the 2026 OPL 1 Division. Strong performances during our pre-season games added to that belief and our team got off to a very positive start in the first half of the season, beating what we believed to be all our major opponents and sitting high in the standings at the halfway point.
Taking all into consideration, finishing in an improved 3rd position (from 2025) and within such a competitive division, it is something both the players and the club should be immensely proud of. Hopefully this will provide a very positive platform from where to launch our 2027 campaign, as we now prepare for another competitive challenge when the new season comes around in April.”
Although April can’t come soon enough, the 2026 campaign’s highlights will be hard to forget. One of these moments was a golden goal at the halfway mark of the season, which capped off with an absolute thriller at home by the lakeshore. A 97th minute winner by Peter Wator helped the OPL1 Men take down then top-of-the-table Scrosoppi FC 3-2, and jump them into 1st place in the League.
In addition, a memorable strong finish to the season saw the team grab 5 wins from their last 6 matches, conceding just 2 goals, scoring 17, and grabbing all 9 points across their final 3 games. This run was highlighted by 4 goals from team captain Brandon Duarte – one being a spectacular volley vs Halton rivals Burlington SC, which can be seen here.
Captain Brandon Duarte provided his insight on 2026: “thought the season went very well, we had a phenomenal preseason with a young group of guys who bonded really well and built up our chemistry really quickly.
We improved from last season finishing in 3rd, but not hitting our goal of winning the league, and knowing we would have been in a title race if we had our full squad definitely stings. We’re always grateful for the coaching staff, the Oakville Soccer Club, and the fans for sticking with us.”
After a step forward in 2026 from the inaugural 2025 campaign, OSC is already working hard behind the scenes for 2027 and is incredibly excited at the prospect of what this upcoming year has in store for the OPL1 Men.
