The Gryphon men's lacrosse team is one step closer to the Baggataway Cup, beating the Golden Hawks 16-4 at home today (Oct.27). 

The win advances Guelph to the quarter finals next week at Trent University.

Guelph attackman Jordan Daradick (Welland, ON) had four goals and three assists to lead all scorers in the game.  Eric Hubert (Mississauga, ON) and Connor Deuchars (Toronto, ON) both had two goals and two assists.  Joe Wasson (Peterborough, ON) scored two, while two Orangeville boys, Jordan Critch  and Andrew Stoner, had a goal and an assist.  Rounding out Guelph's scoring were Taylor Brown (Peterborough, ON), Mike Burke (Caledon, ON), Curtis Knight (Oshawa, ON) and Garrett Williams (Oshawa, ON), each contributed a goal. 

The Gryphons got off to one of their slowest starts of the season, losing the opening face-off and playing defense for the first few minutes of the game.  After Laurier opened the scoring at the 2:12 mark, Guelph again lost the draw and saw Laurier capitalize on a possession to take a 2-0 lead.

It wasn't until the 9:43 that Jordan Critch put the Gryphons on the score sheet and then Eric Hubert had two in a row to put Guelph up 3-2 at the end of quarter.  Then the faceoff team began to dominate draws and the resulting momentum gave the Gryphons a lift.    

The second quarter was all Guelph, with the Gryphons outscoring Laurier 3-1 to take a 6-3 half-time lead. 

The Gryphon defense dominated Laurier in the second half and the offense found its footing.  On several occasions, the defense would cause a turnover and immediately move the ball up field where the offense would move the ball in a tic-tac-toe fashion and burry another goal.  As a result, Guelph outscored Laurier 10-1 in the second half to win 16-4.

The win advances the Gryphons to the Baggataway Championship next weekend hosted at Trent University and Guelph's likely opponent will be the host.  Game time will be 6pm.