GUELPH, Ont. – Having already secured the top position in the West Division, the No. 5-nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons continued their tremendous 2021 season winning their seventh match on Wednesday. Playing host to the Laurier Golden Hawks, the Gryphons used three second-half goals to cruise to a 4-0 victory.
In what was their final home game of the 2021 regular season, the win secured a perfect home record for Guelph going 5-0 at the Gryphon Soccer Complex.
"I thought in the first half we were brilliant," Gryphon's Head Coach Keith Mason said. "I thought we played beautiful soccer and moved the ball well. In the final third though we tried to play the difficult ball or something fancy when simple would have sufficed."
"That is what we talked about at half time. We needed to be ruthless in the final third. This game should have been put to bed by halftime but they were still in it. So we needed to get ruthless and keep it simple and we came flying out of the traps in the second half, and we were fantastic."
Entering the match without a loss, and looking to keep that trend going, the Gryphons forced much of the play into the Laurier half. Firing seven shots in the first 45-minutes, Guelph had multiple opportunities to get on the board, and were able to convert in the 23rd minute. After earning a corner kick, Colin Gander sent the ball into the box where Ian Vidovich headed it to the foot of Cole Fernandez and he fired it into the back of the goal.
Although only up by a goal at the half, it did not take long for the Gryphons to further extend their lead and quickly put the match out of reach. Just two minutes into the second-half the Gryphons struck from a corner kick again. This time, Gander launched the ball in and Owen McKee headed it home to double the Guelph lead.
Only seven minutes later, McKee set up the third Gryphon's goal shortly after scoring his own. Driving wide towards the Laurier goal line, McKee sent the ball deep into the box finding Mitch Lefebvre and he made no mistake. Rounding out the scoring, Guelph again struck off of a cross. This time in the 84th minute it was Gander finding Jack Pensom who found the back of the net to give the Gryphons a 4-0 advantage.
Despite only having to face one shot, Gryphon's keeper Svyatoslav Artemenko secured a fifth consecutive clean sheet at home and did not surrender a single goal at the Gryphon Soccer Complex throughout the 2021 OUA regular season.
With their playoff position secured, the Gryphons will wrap up their regular season schedule on Sunday when they travel to Waterloo to battle the Golden Hawks once more.
"I strongly believe we need to stay focused on the next game in front of us," Mason said. "Having said that though we do have to keep one eye on the fact that we have a big playoff game just two days later."
"We will give some people who have worked hard for us all year a chance to get a breather but we will still be fielding a team that we believe can win the game for us."
