Western and Carleton are the top seeds as the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association heads to the playoffs to decide the participants in this year's Baggataway Cup.
Western saw their undefeated season fall by the wayside on Sunday as they dropped a bit of a stunner to Guelph, losing 13-6 to the Gryphons. The Mustangs had already clinched first in the West Division, though, with arguably the best defensive season in the available history of CUFLA as they went 9-1.
Carleton wrapped up their season on Saturday with a 15-8 win over Bishop's that improved the Ravens' record to 8-2. They had virtually clinched the East but had to wait through the end of Trent's win over McGill to make sure they would secure the top spot.
Week 7 Results
McGill 11, Bishop's 7
Box score
The Redbirds and Gaiters met in Montreal on Wednesday in a rescheduled game after Bishop's had transportation issues on the original date. Bishop's took a 6-4 half time lead in the Quebec clash by going on a 4-goal run to end the second quarter and extended the lead with the opening goal of the third. It was all McGill after that, with seven different players connecting the rest of the way for the Redbirds while Joseph Boehm and the defence did not allow another goal.
Western 11, Toronto 5
Box score
The Mustangs started a busy Week 7 by jumping out to a 2-0 lead over the Varsity Blues and never really looking back en route to improving to 8-0. It was a balanced attacked for Western, with nine different players scoring goals, while Daniel Clarke had all 5 of the goals for Toronto.
Queen's 8, Trent 7 OT
Box score
Trent came into the Friday game in Kingston sitting at 7-1, in first place in the East and in control of their destiny for finishing atop the division. They opened up like they intended to keep their roll going, getting a pair of goals from Cole Hanrahan and one from Adam Hawrelak to lead 3-0 through 15 minutes. The Gaels, though sitting at 3-6, have been a tough out all season and they matched Trent's first quarter run by getting a pair from Jacob McLean then one from Dano Realini to even the score by half time.
The second half once again saw mirror image quarters. This time it was Queen's pulling ahead with a 3-1 edge in the third. Trent responded with a 3-1 fourth quarter, although it took a late push. Hanrahan scored with 1:14 to play to pull the Excalibur within a goal then tied it up 42 seconds later to force overtime.
The game ended on an unusual note, with Queen's defender Griffin Hill racing in to rip home a pole goal with two seconds left in the first four-minute overtime period for the Gael's win.
Carleton 15, Bishop's 8
Box score
Bishop's stayed with the Ravens early on Saturday, ending the first quarter tied 3-3. Carleton has three of CUFLA's top six scorers, though, and all three put up big games to allow the Ravens to take advantage of Trent's stumble to leapfrog the Excalibur into first place. Sam Trumble had 5 goals and 2 assists, Cameron York 3 and 2, and Jacob Gasperetti 3 and 1 as Carleton pulled away for the win that proved to clinch top spot for the Ravens.
Laurier 6, Nipissing 2
Box score
Laurier entered the game at 4-4, giving them a chance to finish with a winning record for the first time in readily available CUFLA history. The Golden Hawks finished strong against the Lakers, getting goals from six different players overall while goalie Dante Mancini and the defence pitched a second-half shutout.
Western 18, Laurentian 0
Box score
The Mustangs had a long day, making the 11-hour round trip from London to Sudbury to take on the Voyageurs. Western made it a long day on the field for Laurentian, though, scoring 6 first-quarter goals –including Connor Murphy putting in 2 of his game-high 5—to run away early, and the Mustangs just kept going.
While it was a big scoring day for Western, the shutout continued a streak of defensive dominance. The game improved Western's record to 9-0, and the Mustangs had not allowed more than 5 goals in any of those nine games. With another game to play Sunday, Western rested starting goalie Michael Orlando. Logan Santori and Fischer Stoltz took advantage of the chance to play, sharing the shutout win.
McGill 11, Ottawa 4
Box score
The Redbirds still had a chance to get first place in the East when they faced off at Ottawa's Lee's Field Saturday night. They took care of their end of things with a dominant performance, riding hat tricks from Rowan Birrell and Isaiah Cree to a big win.
Brock 9, Toronto 1
Box score
Brock led 3-0 through half time. When the Varsity Blues scored the first goal of the second half less than two minutes in, the Badgers responded quickly and thoroughly by putting up the game's final 6 goals to win going away.
Guelph 13, Western 6
Box score
Guelph is a good team, finishing second in CUFLA West while leading the league in scoring with 115 goals. As is their tendency, they have gotten better as the season progresses, finishing with a bang on Sunday as Robbie Baxter scored 6 goals and Gavin Thibeault added a hat trick to lead the Gryphons' big win over the Mustangs. The Gryphons would be quick to acknowledge that they weren't getting the Mustangs' best, though, as Western was playing their third game in 41 hours.
Bishop's 8, Ottawa 7
Box score
The Gee-Gees endured a long season, entering their final game winless in nine tries, but Ottawa pushed to the end, ultimately falling just a single goal short of forcing overtime after closing the game on a 3-1 run. Bishop's built a little momentum for the playoffs by winning their third game of the season. Scoring was well spread out, with 13 different players contributing to the total of 15 goals in the game.
Laurier 11, Laurentian 3
Box score
Laurier wasted little time ensuring their winning season, roaring out to a 3-0 first quarter lead thanks in part to Cameron McCusker scoring 2 of his game-high 4 goals in the opening 15 minutes.
Trent 9, McGill 5
Adam Hawrelak exploded for 6 goals to lead Trent to a comeback win over McGill. The Excalibur still finished second to Carleton because of tiebreakers, so they will play on Quarterfinal Friday at the Baggataway Cup, as the host of the November 3-5 tournament.
Brock 3, McMaster 1
Box score
With third place and a home playoff game on the line in the battle between the Badgers and the visiting Marauders, defence was the order of the day, as it has tended to be throughout the season in the West Division. A power play goal from Graydon Power was the only score in the first 49 minutes of play.
Avery Steinbach-Parker scored his team-leading 18th of the season 3:04 into the fourth quarter to tie the game up. The eventual game-winner came from the stick of Colton Armitage just over three minutes later and Jaden Patterson added an insurance marker with a minute and a half to play as Brock improved to 7-3. With McMaster falling to 6-4, they actually dropped to fifth place behind Laurier thanks to the Golden Hawks' tiebreaker edge.
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