Gryphon lacrosse men knocked out of Baggataway Cup
PETERBOROUGH – The Guelph Gryphons’ Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association season came to an end Friday night at Trent University’s Justin Chiu Stadium when they were edged 9-8 by the McGill Redbirds.
McGill scored the final two goals of the game in the final seven and a half minutes to oust the Gryphons from the Baggataway Cup championship tournament’s quarter-finals.
The teams had been tied 2-2 at the end of the first quarter before Guelph jumped ahead 5-3 by halftime. McGill came back with the first three goals of the second half to go ahead, but the Gryphs tied it at 7-7 by the end of the third quarter.
The Gryphs scored with eight seconds to go in the third quarter, that goal coming two seconds after McGill had made in 7-6.
Guelph jumped ahead with a goal with 9:30 to go in the fourth quarter, but McGill responded with the two final goals to grab a berth in Saturday’s semifinals.
Robbie Baxter had a hat trick for the Gryphs while Liam Aston and Liam Dietsch each scored twice. Ethan Lee fired home the other goal while Aston had three assists, Nicholas Volkov had two and Baxter had one.
Rowan Birrell had six goals for the Redbirds while Isaiah Cree, John Miraglia and Massimo Thauvette scored once each. Dylan James had three assists while Alex Erbstein had two.
Logan Pagano was in net for the Gryphs while Joseph Boehm was in goal for McGill.
The Gryphs had finished the regular season in second place in the West Division with an 8-2 record while McGill was third in the East Division at 7-3.
In Baggataway Cup play-in games last weekend, the Gryphs doubled the McMaster Marauders 8-4 while McGill defeated the Queen’s Gaels 9-5.
In Friday’s other quarter-final, the Brock Badgers defeated the host and defending champion Trent Excalibur 9-7.
Today’s semifinals are strictly divisional affairs as McGill is to play the Carleton Ravens at 1:30 p.m. and Brock is to play the Western Mustangs at 4:30 p.m.
Carleton finished atop the East Division at 8-2 while Western was first in the West Division at 9-1.
Sunday’s championship match is set for 2 p.m.
The Gryphons have won the Baggataway Cup five times (1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2014) and finished as silver medalists at least six times. Silver medalists for seven years in the 38-year history of CUFLA were not listed on the association’s website.
McGill has won it twice (2012, 2015) and finished as finalists at least three times.
- Guelph Sports Journal