The Guelph Gryphon men's soccer team fell 1-0 to the Laurier Golden Hawks on Sunday afternoon in Waterloo.  The Gryphons move to 1-1 in the regular season after their opening weekend.

Guelph started the game very slowly and could not keep any meaningful possession in midfield, so the Golden Hawks were able to create the best opportunities and control the pace of the game for much of the first half.  

The Guelph defence did an excellent job keeping Laurier away from the Guelph net, a mis-communication between defence and midfield led to the only goal of the game which was a wayward pass out of defence and was easily intercepted by a Laurier player, allowing their forward to shoot from close range inside the Guelph box beating goalkeeper Chad Paparoni. Defender Brandon Rollocks, who was trying to cover behind Paparoni, had the ball deflect off him and into the goal.  

The second half saw Laurier sit deeper to defend their lead, which allowed Guelph to have more possession and create more chances. Unfortunately the Guelph attackers lacked the composure they needed in front of goal and sent many good opportunities wide of the goal, never truly testing the Laurier keeper.

The Guelph defence was excellent dealing with WLU set pieces (corners, free kicks, long throw-ins), but the attack could just not create the goal they wanted.

Guelph's midfield will need to improve in their next game, and should try to model itself after the defensive group of Paparoni, Rollocks, Tom Paron, and Jeremy Gaylor who battled for every ball and showed excellent composure throughout

The Gryphons will play UOIT at home next Saturday (Sept. 10) at 3:15 p.m.