Gryphons put an end to the men's lacrosse season

John Bauer

The Silhouette

After a regular season that made lacrosse relevant again at McMaster, the men's lacrosse team knew that they still had a great deal of work to do to be counted among the league's elite. Though the team was the fourth of five seeds in the west and was not expected to go far in the playoffs, Saturday's 13-7 loss to the Guelph Gryphons in the wild card round of the Baggataway Cup stung nonetheless.

Guelph entered the cup hunt ranked fourth in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association power rankings, mainly due to their vaunted offensive talent. Their big guns did not disappoint, but the Marauder defense simply could not match the Gryphon attack that seemed to come in waves.

Guelph would open the game by jumping out to generic viagra buy usa a 3-0 lead in just over six minutes of play, with goals from Michael Cavanagh and two of their big three, Jordan Critch and Ryan Serville. Jamie Batten would respond for McMaster, before another Guelph goal capped the scoring for the quarter at 4-1.

The teams would exchange goals for the first eleven minutes of the second quarter, with Marauders goals from Ryan Adams and Alex Goacher. The Gryphons would score two late goals to push the lead to 8-3.

The third quarter would turn chippy, with over ten minutes in penalties handed out. McMaster was given a serious opportunity, spending a good portion of the quarter on the power play, but only managed a single goal with the man advantage. They added an even strength goal by Mitchell Iszkula, but Guelph managed two tallies of their own.

Adams and Iszkula would each notch their second of the game in the fourth, but the story of the quarter was Curtis Knight, one of the Gryphon's players that plays in the National Lacrosse League. He played a factor in all three of Guelph's scores to close the game out at 13-7.

Guelph now moves to the Baggataway Cup quaterfinals to play Bishop's University, while the Maroon and Grey have a long off-season ahead of them. Mac lacrosse fans can take heart that a good majority of the squad still have their peak years left to give to the team, as only four regulars, Mark Phillips, Benjamin Mullholland, Quinton Welychka, and Ian Waud are in their fourth year of eligibility and one, Carter Williams, is in his fifth.