HAMILTON – The Guelph Gryphons men's soccer team rarely falls short in matches. The defending OUA champions and national bronze medalists lost just three times the entire regular season. But if they had a nemesis in 2017, it was the McMaster Marauders, who were responsible for two of those defeats. History was repeated on Sunday as the Gryphons were eliminated from the postseason with a 1-0 defeat to McMaster in a heated OUA quarter-final play in Hamilton.
 
The Gryphons developed a reputation for pulling matches out of the fire with key goals, often coming late. Against McMaster, they were unable to find the breakthrough, marking just the third time all year they were goalless in a game.
 
Marauders' forward Dusan Kovacevic had the strike that would send his side to the OUA semi-finals. A low, hard cross into the Guelph area went off the fingertips goalkeeper Simon Norgrove and found the feet of McMaster's leading scorer, who slotted the ball home in the 29^th minute.
 
"It was a tale of two halves," said Gryphons' head coach Keith Mason. "In the first half, McMaster were much better and deserved the lead. We just didn't rise to the occasion. But we dominated in the second half and had a couple of good clear opportunities to score. The difference was that we didn't convert them."

 

The Gryphons attacked relentlessly in search of an equalizer but were denied. They had five of their seven total shot attempts in the second half, forcing goalkeeper Jesse Di Domenico into making four saves on the afternoon. Guelph's best two chances came late in the match, the first off a bobble from the Mac kepper that ended with Johnson Amoo hitting the ball into the side netting.
 
Moments away from the final whistle, striker Jace Kotsopoulos, who recently returned after an extended injury absence, was sent in with a through ball but the Burlington, On native hesitated and was stripped of the ball.
 
"We gave it a go in the second half," said Mason. "They were two glorious chances and we didn't take them."
 
The emotional match produced six yellow cards, five of them coming in the final 30 minutes as Guelph went forward in search of a goal. The playoff game was the third meeting between the two rivals this year. McMaster defeated the Gryphons 4-2 in Hamilton on Sept. 10 and a managed to leave Guelph with another 2-1 over the defending champions on Oct. 11.
 
The defending champions finished the season with a 12-4-2 record.
 
Mason said it would take a bit to get over the disappointment of being eliminated but he was proud of his team, which had a different makeup after several key departures from the championship side.
 
"We performed really well, with a new team, creating a new identity," said Mason. "A lot of new players stepped up to the plate and it bodes well for the future."