Guelph, ON - Friday night under the lights at home, the Gryphon Men's Lacrosse team improved to 2-1 with a convincing 11-1 win over the McMaster Marauders (1-3).
 
The Gryphons offence was tentative early on, failing to capitalize on several good opportunities. The team fired 9 shots toward McMaster's goal in the first quarter but only found the twine once, at the 6:40 mark, on a goal from Brett Ulbikas.
 
Gryphon starting goaltender Mike Lalani anchored another solid defensive performance for the Gryphons.  Despite firing 7 shots towards Guelph's goal in the first quarter, Gryphon longpoles Nathan McKenzie, Justin Martin, Nicholas Wordtmann, Joshua Manangan and Adam Kirchmayer kept the shooters on the perimeter and off balance. Shortstick defenders Benjamin Heidecker and Luke Stockden were tested repeatedly but responded well to the challenge.

Guelph's offense played a significant role in Guelph's defensive dominance, riding the ball hard in the first quarter and causing 4 turnovers. Each time the Gryphons lost possession in McMaster's end, Guelph's ride was so tough that the Marauders only once cleared the ball out of their end in the opening frame.
 
"Possession was key for us tonight; when we lost it, we got it back," said Gryphon bench boss Sam Kosakowski. "Mango (Josh Manangan) had another great night taking draws and our wing men battled for every loose ball. That kind of play is very important for us."
 
They Gryphons won 9 of 12 face offs and over the course of the game, and recorded 31 ground balls to McMaster's 13.
 
Leading 4-0 going into the second half the Gryphons had one of their very few breakdowns on defense and left McMaster's Brandon Petter open for the Marauder's only goal of the game.  Two minutes later, second year Gryphon midfielder Luke Stockden caught a pass in transition, ran past two McMaster defenders and buried the ball for his first goal as a Gryphon. Guelph followed up with two more in the quarter on goals from Michael Cavanagh and Daniel McIsaac, opening up a 7-1 lead.
 
The 4^th quarter was all Guelph. Liam Corbett scored twice and Cavanagh got his his second of the game. With a minute left, second year midfielder Quenton Begin took a great feed from Corbett and quick-sticked his first goal as a Gryphon to wrap up the win.
 
Attackmen Liam Corbett and Dan McIsaac each had 2 goals and 2 assists. Brett Ulbikas had 3 goals and Mike Cavanagh has 2 and 1. Stockden and Begin had one each while Todd Greer recorded an assist.

The Gryphons will head north next weekend, with games at Laurentian on Saturday Oct. 3 and Nipissing on Sunday Oct. 4.