Guelph, Ont. – The Men's Lacrosse team advanced to the 2014 Baggataway Cup quarter finals on Sunday, with a 17-13 win over Toronto at home.  Sunday's matchup pitted the 3^rd place Gryphons against the 4^th place Varsity Blues and proved to be a competitive game until the very end. 
 
Toronto jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the Gryphons, scoring first on a power play and then on a strong one handed effort by Toronto attackman  Andrew Masson.  Guelph's goalie Tyler MacKendrick (Whitby, ON), starting in place of regular Guelph netminder Mike Lalani (Guelph, ON) then settled down and began making solid saves.   His stops gave Guelph some momentum and half way through the first frame Guelph's Calvin Holland (Burlington, ON) found Liam Corbett (Burlington, ON) with a nice feed and Corbett buried Guelph's first.   With 5 minutes left on the clock, Mike Burke (Wasaga Beach, ON) was set up by midfielder Curtis Knight (Oshawa, ON) and the game was tied. 
 
The second quarter was a see-saw battle.  Knight put Guelph ahead early but Toronto tied it back up only minutes later.  Knight again put Guelph ahead and then Toronto responded with two of their own to take a 5-4 lead.  The Gryphons found themselves on defense for a good portion of the quarter.  Finally, in the dying seconds of the half, Knight got his third in a row to equal the score at 5.

The first half may have been a different story had Guelph been able to maintain possession of the ball.  The team gave the ball away 12 times in the half and took four penalties.  The fourth, an undisciplined unsportsmanlike penalty after time expired, gave Toronto possession of the ball and a one minute power play to start the second half.
Toronto capitalized, scoring early then calling a time out.  They won the ensuing face-off and then scored another goal just before the penalty expired.  Once again finding themselves down, Guelph needed to find their stride or their season looked to be over.

The Gryphons then came to life.  Burke executed a fine roll dodge behind the net, switched hands and found Seamus Shanahan (Burlington, ON) wide open on the crease.  Knight then got his fourth of the game on a great individual effort, splitting the Toronto defense and scoring to tie the game.  Less than a minute later on another one on one matchup, Knight turned his defender inside out and then found the top corner with a bullet from 12 yards out.  The Gryphons were once again ahead, leading 8-7.
Ryan Serville (Pickering, ON) got on the score sheet at the 8:12 mark of the third, followed by another goal from Knight.   The Gryphons were on a roll, outscoring Toronto 5-2 in the third to take a 10-7 leading going into the final quarter.

Toronto won the faceoff to start the 4^th but Guelph's MacKendrick once again came up big with a save.  Veteran longpole defensemen Kris Leblanc recovered the ensuing loose ball and fired a full-field pass from his goal line to a cutting Serville in the offensive end.  Caught off guard, Toronto found themselves on the short end of a 3 v 2 odd man rush and Serville buried it low to give the Gryphons an 11-7 lead.  The rest of the quarter was a scoring bonanza with the teams scoring a total of 6 goals each.
Down 16-10, Toronto put on a late quarter surge, scoring three times in the last three minutes to make the game close.  Rookie drawman Ben Heidecker (Oakville, ON)once again stood out, winning a crucial face off with just over a minute to go which lead to an empty net goal for Curtis Knight, his 8^th of the game and the team's 17^th on the day.
Knight ended the day with 8 goals and 1 assist.  Mike Burke recorded a goal and three assists.  Serville and Shanahan had 3 each while Jordan Critch (Orangeville, ON) had 1 and 1.  Liam Corbett added a goal and Calvin Holland had an assist.

The win moves the Gryphons to their 16^th berth in the Baggataway Cup Championships, the Canadian University Lacrosse Association's national championship, in the past 20 years.  In a repeat of last year's quarter final, they will face off against Bishop's at 6pm on Friday, November 7 at Civic Recreation Complex in Oshawa.