HAMILTON, Ont. – The Gryphon men's soccer team ended their season today by a 2-0 quarterfinal loss to the CIS No. 5 McMaster Marauders at Ron Joyce Stadium.
 
The Gryphons season ends with a 7-6-3 regular season record and 1-1 playoff record.  The Marauders move into the OUA semi-finals.

Guelph came into the West Division semi-final on a high after a great road win in extra time against Windsor on Wednesday, and were looking forward to a rematch of last year's West Division semi, which was won by Mac 2-0. Unfortunately, Guelph started the game somewhat flat and thus allowed McMaster to take control of the game early on. Neither team dominated possession, but McMaster created several good scoring chances, all of which were dealt with by the Guelph defence and goalkeeper Chad Paparoni. 
The first goal of the game came in the 21st minute when a ball was judged to have hit a Guelph defender's arm in the box; a penalty kick was given and McMaster dispatched it to take the 1-0 lead. The half would end 1-0 for McMaster. The halftime team talk by coach Mason clearly had an effect on the team as they came out in the second half playing with incredible focus and intensity, pressuring McMaster all over the field.  Guelph attempted to create opportunities in order to tie the game up, and missed an incredible chance off a corner kick in the 71st minute; unfortunately the attack could never truly test the McMaster defence, so that Guelph was kept off the score sheet. Within four minutes of Guelph's best chance, the Marauders scored the insurance goal to take the score to 2-0.

There were outstanding performances put in by several Guelph players, many of them rookies.  Brendan Springer, played outstanding in his last game for the Gryphons, he  will not be returning to the Gryphons next year - in his three years of play, Springer was captain for two years and scored five goals in central midfield in 48 appearances.