The men's lacrosse team slipped to 3-3 on the weekend, losing to Western 6-5 in the third and sudden death overtime on Sunday. The loss puts the Gryphons in a difficult position as the defending National Champions will need to win at least three of their remaining four games to insure a playoff place in the quarter finals.

As a result of some discipline issues, Guelph ran a short bench in the first quarter. Guelph found themselves down 1-0 on an early Western power play but the team responded by tightening up on defence and playing more patiently on offence. Chances started to come and midway through the quarter rookie Connor Deuchars (Toronto, Ont.) tied the game on a great feed from Braden Gallant (Burlington, Ont.).

In the second quarter, tied at one, Guelph opened up its bench and the Gryphons gradually began to dominate play. Solid Western goaltending kept the Gryphons off the board until veterans Scott Fitchett (Scarborough, Ont.) and Justin Wilson-Kirby (Oakville, Ont.) put Guelph ahead 3-1. Defensively, Guelph held Western off the scoreboard for the entire period.

In the third quarter, the teams traded goals. Scott Fitchett recorded his second while midfielder Mike Cameron (Mississauga, Ont.) added another. Both goals were assisted by Braden Gallant.

Maintaining their two goal advantage, the Gryphons all but shut down the Western attack for most of the fourth quarter. Later in the game however, the momentum swung decidedly in Western's favour. It seemed Guelph had iced the game with 2:41 remaining on a goal by Justin Wilson-Kirby. Western called for a stick check. Kirby's stick's pocket had stretched in the rain and was deemed illegal, resulting in the goal being disallowed. Western went on the power play and scored to bring it to within one. Then, Guelph took another penalty that resulted in another Western goal, tying the game at five.

The game ended in a tie and it wasn't until the third overtime period, with 4.3 seconds left that Western managed to capitalize on a broken play to win the game. Guelph had chances in all three overtimes to win but couldn't find the mark.

Guelph 's defence was dominant all game long. In the opening quarter, long-stick defencemen Bend Bond (Cape Elizabeth, Maine), Mike Gillan (Caledon, Ont.), Brett Skyvington (Mississauga, Ont.) and long-stick midfielders Colin Skyvington (Mississauga, Ont.) and Brad Galante (Burlington, Ont.) were solid. Rookie Ben Vangalen had a strong start as the Gryphon face off man and Jon Harnett (Calendon East, Ont.) came off the bench to put in another strong performance. All of

Guelph 's midfielders did a great job on defence as well.

"Our goal is to hold teams under 10 goals per game" said Gryphon coach, Sam Kosakowski, "and we did that again. Our offence continues to struggle however and just isn't providing the support up front".

While Kosakowski was disappointed with his team's offensive play, he was happy with the first quarter performances of Connor Deuchars (Toronto, Ont.), Paul Forster (Toronto, Ont.), Graham Bryan (Orangeville, Ont.), Ben Vangalen (Orangeville, Ont.) and Eric Hubert (Mississauga, Ont.).

"These guys were asked to step into a situation that they aren't normally used to and they did a great job".

The Gryphons will have to regroup and in short order as they travel to Laurier next Friday and then host Western in their rematch, next Saturday, October 10 at 1:00 pm.