Gryphon lacrosse men dump Laurentian in home opener
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons connected for 22 consecutive goals Sunday at the Gryphon Soccer Complex as they made sure they weren’t the first Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association team to lose to the Laurentian Voyageurs since 2018.
The Gryphs and Voyageurs were tied 1-1 after the first quarter before the hosts went on their scoring rampage to claim a 23-1 victory.
Guelph Gryphons 23 Laurentian Voyageurs 1
“We played the bench and the bench played fantastic,” Gryphon head coach Sam Kosakowski said. “In the first quarter we had 11 shots and one goal. You’re not going to win any lacrosse game doing that, it doesn’t matter who your opponent is. We made their goaltender look good. He stood in there and stopped balls, that’s his job. We weren’t finishing and I think the boys the more that started to go on, the more they gripped their sticks a little tighter and it was a little harder to try to score goals. But once we get rolling, we get rolling.”
Guelph scored seven goals in the second quarter, eight in the third and seven more in the fourth.
The result extended Laurentian’s losing streak to 31 games as the Voyageurs haven’t won since edging the Toronto Varsity Blues 12-11 on Oct. 6, 2018.
“Kudos to Laurentian for doing what they’re doing,” Kosakowski said. “It’s hard. They’ve gone through a lot up there at that school and it’s hard to put on a program like that, travelling a lot and paying for it and all that kind of stuff. And it’s hard to recruit up there, but they’re putting it together and doing their best. As long as we respect the game when we play them, that’s all I can ask.”
Liam Dietsch led the Gryphs with a hat trick while Trent Gilbert, Max McPherson, Nick Nigro, Owen Kelly, Liam Aston and Parker Lock tallied twice apiece. Single goals were added by Cole Cook, Carter MacKay, Owen Hobbs, Robbie Baxter, Ben Doherty, Max Baker, Jake Cook and Gavin Thibeault.
Cole Cook assisted on four of the goals while Gilbert, McPherson, MacKay, Lyle MacNeil and Jared Bettonvil each had two assists. Single assists went to Dietsch, Nigro, Kelly, Hobbs, Baxter and Jesse Gonsalvez.
Isaac Story-Korman had an unassisted goal for Laurentian.
The Gryphs outshot Laurentian 40-4.
Logan Pagano was in net for the Gryphs while Ryan Cassie was in net for Laurentian.
“What I liked and I told them after the game is they kept their composure,” Kosakowski said of his players. “They didn’t get stupid. They just played the systems and worked hard and took the opportunities that presented themselves. That’s what we want them to do.”
McMaster Marauders lead the West Division at 3-0 while the Western Mustangs and Brock Badgers are both at 2-0. The Gryphs and Laurier Golden Hawks are both 2-1, Toronto is 1-2 and Laurentian and the Nipissing Lakers are both 0-4. Nipissing has moved from the East Division to the West this season.
The game was the first of three consecutive home games on the schedule for the Gryphs, who opened their season a week earlier with road games at Western (9-5 loss) and Laurier (9-6 win).
“The start got a whole lot better today,” Kosakowski said. “We’re still at the beginning of the season and it’s a long season. We had a weird weekend last weekend. It was a weird vibe so we’ve had some post-weekend meetings with players and leadership and talk about it so things didn’t spiral out of control. We’ve got something special going on here. We’ve got a really talented group of young men. Our talent level is pretty even and we’re trying to figure out how to best utilize everyone in all situations. We’re trying to figure out how we best gel together, so our first weekend we weren’t there yet, for sure. We’re not there yet now, but we’re giving the guys a better feel of where they fit in the structure of a 35-man roster. That was part of the challenge last weekend.”
The Gryphs are to host Brock Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Gryphon Soccer Complex and Toronto Sept. 30 at 2:30 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Gryphon lacrosse men dump Laurentian in home opener
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons connected for 22 consecutive goals Sunday at the Gryphon Soccer Complex as they made sure they weren’t the first Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association team to lose to the Laurentian Voyageurs since 2018.
The Gryphs and Voyageurs were tied 1-1 after the first quarter before the hosts went on their scoring rampage to claim a 23-1 victory.
Guelph Gryphons 23
Laurentian Voyageurs 1
“We played the bench and the bench played fantastic,” Gryphon head coach Sam Kosakowski said. “In the first quarter we had 11 shots and one goal. You’re not going to win any lacrosse game doing that, it doesn’t matter who your opponent is. We made their goaltender look good. He stood in there and stopped balls, that’s his job. We weren’t finishing and I think the boys the more that started to go on, the more they gripped their sticks a little tighter and it was a little harder to try to score goals. But once we get rolling, we get rolling.”
Guelph scored seven goals in the second quarter, eight in the third and seven more in the fourth.
The result extended Laurentian’s losing streak to 31 games as the Voyageurs haven’t won since edging the Toronto Varsity Blues 12-11 on Oct. 6, 2018.
“Kudos to Laurentian for doing what they’re doing,” Kosakowski said. “It’s hard. They’ve gone through a lot up there at that school and it’s hard to put on a program like that, travelling a lot and paying for it and all that kind of stuff. And it’s hard to recruit up there, but they’re putting it together and doing their best. As long as we respect the game when we play them, that’s all I can ask.”
Liam Dietsch led the Gryphs with a hat trick while Trent Gilbert, Max McPherson, Nick Nigro, Owen Kelly, Liam Aston and Parker Lock tallied twice apiece. Single goals were added by Cole Cook, Carter MacKay, Owen Hobbs, Robbie Baxter, Ben Doherty, Max Baker, Jake Cook and Gavin Thibeault.
Cole Cook assisted on four of the goals while Gilbert, McPherson, MacKay, Lyle MacNeil and Jared Bettonvil each had two assists. Single assists went to Dietsch, Nigro, Kelly, Hobbs, Baxter and Jesse Gonsalvez.
Isaac Story-Korman had an unassisted goal for Laurentian.
The Gryphs outshot Laurentian 40-4.
Logan Pagano was in net for the Gryphs while Ryan Cassie was in net for Laurentian.
“What I liked and I told them after the game is they kept their composure,” Kosakowski said of his players. “They didn’t get stupid. They just played the systems and worked hard and took the opportunities that presented themselves. That’s what we want them to do.”
McMaster Marauders lead the West Division at 3-0 while the Western Mustangs and Brock Badgers are both at 2-0. The Gryphs and Laurier Golden Hawks are both 2-1, Toronto is 1-2 and Laurentian and the Nipissing Lakers are both 0-4. Nipissing has moved from the East Division to the West this season.
The game was the first of three consecutive home games on the schedule for the Gryphs, who opened their season a week earlier with road games at Western (9-5 loss) and Laurier (9-6 win).
“The start got a whole lot better today,” Kosakowski said. “We’re still at the beginning of the season and it’s a long season. We had a weird weekend last weekend. It was a weird vibe so we’ve had some post-weekend meetings with players and leadership and talk about it so things didn’t spiral out of control. We’ve got something special going on here. We’ve got a really talented group of young men. Our talent level is pretty even and we’re trying to figure out how to best utilize everyone in all situations. We’re trying to figure out how we best gel together, so our first weekend we weren’t there yet, for sure. We’re not there yet now, but we’re giving the guys a better feel of where they fit in the structure of a 35-man roster. That was part of the challenge last weekend.”
The Gryphs are to host Brock Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Gryphon Soccer Complex and Toronto Sept. 30 at 2:30 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal