Close contests in the Capital Battle and a rivalry game between the two schools that have first and second in the East Division each of the last four full regular seasons to be played highlighted opening week of the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association's 2022 season.
Carleton and Ottawa are both burgeoning programs, adding plenty of talent and looking to compete with the top teams in the East. They went head-to-head in the first game of the home-and-home season series to kick off their season Saturday at Ottawa's Lee's Field, with the Ravens earning a road win by edging the Gee-Gee's 7-6 in a game that was tight throughout and saw the winning goal come with just over two minutes to play.
The Trent Excalibur opened the CUFLA season with a thrashing of Nipissing, beating the Lakers 18-0 last Wednesday, September 7 at Justin Chiu Stadium on the banks of the Otonabee River, but had a much closer contest when they travelled to Montreal Saturday to take on McGill, pulling out a 10-8 win.
Other games from opening week saw Bishop's beat Nipissing 11-4 and Brock beat Laurentian 17-4 on Saturday. On Sunday, Guelph downed Laurier 9-1, Toronto beat Laurentian 15-3, Bishop's edged Carleton 7-6 and Trent moved to 3-0 with an 11-8 win over Queen's.
Carleton 7, Ottawa 6
Box score
The largest lead in the Capital Battle came when Sam Trumble scored to put the Ravens ahead of Ottawa 4-2 with 7:20 to play in the second quarter. That spread lasted for 1:55 before Ottawa replied with Noah Quarrington scoring on an assist from Conor Bundy. As the half came to a close, the pair reversed their roles as Quarrington set up Bundy to make the score 4-4.
Neither team scored for the first five minutes of the third, then Seamus O'Connell connected to put Ottawa back on top. Jacob Garcia helped Carleton respond, scoring back-to-back goals less than two minutes apart to finish off his hat trick and retake the lead heading into the fourth.
O'Connell's power play marker 5:10 into the final frame evened the teams up again at 6-6 and they remained tied for another seven-plus minutes.
Then Carleton's turn on the power play led to Garcia's hat trick goal with 2:05 to play. It would prove to be the game-winner as the Ravens held on for the victory.
Trent 10, McGill 8
Box score
Trent and McGill have been the top two teams in the East standings since 2016. That year, both teams went 11-1. McGill repeated that 11-1 record a year later to finish just ahead of Trent at 10-2. At the end of the 2018 regular season, the teams were level again with each going 9-1. Then McGill reclaimed top spot in 2019 with a perfect 10-0 mark while Trent was second at 8-2.
With the 2020 season cancelled because of the pandemic and McGill forced to miss last fall's CUFLA return, Saturday was the first time the teams had met in three years. After all that time, there still wasn't much to choose between the Excalibur and Redbirds.
They were dead even through the first 30 minutes of play, with each team scoring 3 goals in both the first and second quarters to head to the intermission tied 6-6. Trent had a strong third quarter, blanking McGill 4-0 on goals from Brenden Lundy, Cole Hanrahan, Malcolm Warcholak and Tyler Hendrycks. The Redbirds weren't prepared to go quietly, though; they rebounded by shutting out Trent in the fourth. Unfortunately for McGill, they couldn't quite match Trent's third-quarter production. A pair of Rowan Birrell goals got them back within two but was all the offence they could muster.
Trent 18, Nipissing 0
Box score
Three Trent players scored 5 points each, five had multiple goals and nine in total scored goals, and Jackson Brown and Jackson Hainer combined for a shutout as the Excalibur dominated the Lakers in the first game of the CUFLA season and the first to be played with a shot clock.
Cole Hanrahan led the way with 5 goals while newcomers Brenden Lundy (3g/2a) and Tyler Hendrycks (1g/4a) made big impacts in their opening games for the Excalibur.
Bishop's 11, Nipissing 4
Box score
Bishop's enjoyed big first and fourth quarters, outscoring the Lakers 5-2 and 4-1 respectively in those periods, en route to the win. Jacob Gasperetti built on his breakout 2021 season with a 7-point game to open 2022, scoring 4 goals and adding 3 assists to lead the Gaiters.
Zach Tarr, a 2021 rookie standout, was the only Laker to produce multiple points in the game, scoring twice and adding an assist.
Trent 11, Queen's 8
Box score
The Excalibur roared out to a strong start in their third game in five days, opening up a 9-4 half-time lead. Trent then hung on to keep their winning streak alive as Queen's crept closer but couldn't make it all the way back in their season and home opener.
Hanrahan was the top gun for Trent again with a hat trick. Lundy, Hendrycks, Curtis Romanchych and Colton Armstrong each chipped in a pair of goals while Jackson Brown earned the win in net. Bryan Poetker led the Gaels with 3 goals, Zachary Glazebrook had 2, Curtis Plante and Owen Guest each chipped in a goal and an assist for Queen's.
Guelph 9, Laurier 1
Box score
The Gryphons had enough goals to win in the first 3:19 after Bryce Dennis and Gavin Thibeault connected, but they kept rolling in their season opener visiting Laurier Stadium. Thibeault wound up matching Maxwell McPherson for the game high in scoring with 2 goals and 2 assists each. Thomas McDonald scored the lone marker for the Voyageurs.
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