While playing at home is always a plus, the Nipissing Lakers men's soccer team may welcome a road playoff game.

After falling short of the post-season, the Lakers are back in the big dance and bring a winning record away from home into their matchup with the Queens Gaels in Round 1 of the OUA Playoffs.

Sporting a 5-3-0 record on opposition's fields, Nipissing will look to make it another win away from home Wednesday night.

The teams mirror each other in a number of ways, both scoring 20-plus goals, defeating each other 1-0 during the season and even when it comes to individual stats, the two squads are close.

Queens held a 5-3-0 record at home, once again, a mirror of the Lakers' road record as the two teams won on the other's field this year.

Both team's leading scorers had five goals during the year, the team's leading point-getters had six through the 2018 campaign and now both are looking for a long playoff run.

Nipissing's balance could be the difference, as nine different players found the back of the net this season, with Ryan Roy leading the way with five, Jamal Brown had four and three players – Jack Collins, Cody Vaillancourt and Nathan Zak – had three.

Much like Queens, two capable goalkeepers patrolled the 18-yard box this year for the Lakers and the team can rely on either in the Round 1 showdown.

Near the end of September, the Lakers put a solid 3-1-1 record together, helping them qualify for the playoffs.

They also won three of four to begin the month of September.

Queens had a five-game winning streak in September and added a 3-1-1 stretch to close out the season and head into the post-season.

With the teams so closely resembling each other, the game is up for grabs when they hit the field in Kingston Wednesday.

Game time is 7pm at Richardson Stadium with the winner advancing to the OUA quarter-finals Sunday afternoon.