TORONTO, ON - The Gryphons men's lacrosse team began its quest for its 6^th national title Friday night (Sept. 9) on the road, downing the University of Toronto 13-10 at Varsity Stadium.

The Gryphons, unphased by bus problems that delayed their arrival by 45 minutes, took control of the game early. Winning the opening faceoff the offense maintained possession for the first 5 minutes of the game until veteran attackman Zack Luis (Niagara On The Lake, ON) opened the scoring. The team would trade goals in the quarter with Guelph eventually taking a 3-2 lead at the end of the frame.

Mike Cavanagh (Peterborough, ON) gave the Gryphons a 2 goal lead early in the second but the lead would be short-lived. A missed defensive assignment and a penalty cost Guelph 2 goals as Toronto evened the game at 4.  Minutes later however, Luis would score two more to give the Gryphons another 2 goal margin; a lead that they would not relinquish. 

Luis and Cavanagh would combine for 5 goals and an assist each on the way to the win. Veteran midfielder Brett Ulbikas had two and rookie attackman James Short (Kitchener, ON) scored his first as a Gryphon. 

Offensive Coordinator Dan Cannon was happy with the offense's play. "We had assists on 9 of our 13 goals. Four guys scored and 8 had assists. That means we were making Toronto's defense slide and we distributed the ball very well."

Defensively at times, the Gryphons seemed impenetrable. Toronto was forced to move the ball around the perimeter and had a difficult time getting to the net. Rookie longstick-midfielder Liam Patten (Barrie, ON) did a very good job containing veteran Blues midfielder and 2015 All Canadian Mitch De Soo. De Soo was the key to Toronto's offense and still managed 5 goals and 2 assists.

Veteran longsticks Justin Martin (Oakville, ON), Nate McKenzie (Guelph, ON), Nick Wordtmann (Burlington, ON) and Brett Scullion (Peterborough, ON) did a great job out-muscling the Toronto attack and clearing the defensive zone.

The Gryphons will head to Laurier on Sunday for the second game of their 2016 season. Game time is 3pm in Waterloo.