Oshawa, Ont. – Looking to reap the rewards of all of their hard work put in to the 2021 season, the Guelph Gryphons spent the weekend in Oshawa at the 2021 OUA Championships. Earning their way to day two and the medal round of the tournament, the Gryphons ultimately played their way to a 4^th place finish, their best result in OUA play since 2013.

Drawing a pool with the defending champion Trent Excalibur and the Laurier Golden Hawks, who have had the Gryphon's number over the past decade, Guelph had their work cut out for them from the beginning. However, that did little to dampen the spirits of the Gryphs.

Starting the tournament with a match against Trent, the Gryphons did everything they could to hang with the defending champs in the early stages. After the Excalibur jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the Gryphons fought their way back into the match with back-to-back goals. Tied 2-2 late in the first quarter, Trent scored just prior to the quarter ending before adding to their lead with two more goals in the second. Midway through the second though, Guelph pulled within two, trimming the deficit to 5-3. The Excalibur would go on to add one more before halftime taking a 6-3 lead into break. Unfortunately for the Gryphs, despite a pair of second half goals, it was Trent ultimately pulling away for a 12-5 win.

Having dropped their opening contest, that meant Guelph found themselves in a must-win situation against Laurier if they were to have any hopes of moving on. Although the Gryphons had not defeated the Golden Hawks since 2012, that didn't seem to bother them what so ever.

With their backs against the wall trailing Laurier 4-3 at the half, the Gryphons exploded in the fourth quarter to save their season. On the backs of Jade Barko and Jillian Jacques, Guelph stormed back with five goals in the quarter (three from Barko and two from Jacques) to earn a come from behind 9-7 win over the Golden Hawks. Barko's incredible performance went far beyond just her three goal final quarter. The Sociology major had five goals in the match along with an assist to lead the Gryphons. Unknown to anyone at the time, the Gryphons extended their lead from 8-7 to 9-7 in the dying seconds of the match, and in the end, it was that goal that propelled them into the medal round.

Finishing round robin play in a three-way tie with Ontario Tech and Toronto, Guelph wound up being the team to advance based on goal differential. A tie-breaker that they won by a single goal.

With their best finish since 2013 secured, the Gryphons came into Saturday's medal round looking to further extend their magical ride. However, their gold medal dreams were dashed by the Queen's Gaels in the semi's. Running into a very strong Gaels side that played tremendously well, the Gryphons fell 22-1 and into the bronze medal contest.

Meeting the Western Mustangs with bronze on the line, Guelph jumped out to an early lead. Getting on the board first, the Gryphons went up 1-0 thanks to a goal from Emma Tobin. The Mustangs though fought back and scored three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead after one quarter. Early in the second, Jade Barko got one goal back for Guelph pulling her team within 3-2 of Western. Again though, following the Guelph goal, the Mustangs made another push. This time scoring two straight, Western took a 5-2 lead into the half. Down by three, the Gryphs still managed to start the second half on the right foot quickly getting a goal from Tobin (2^nd of the game), but after Western replied with three straight, Guelph suddenly found themselves in an 8-3 third quarter hole. Despite the deficit, the Gryphs continued to push. Getting two straight goals Megan Latoski the deficit was trimmed to 8-5 heading to the final quarter. Unfortunately for the Gryphons, they were only able to find the back of the net once more on a goal from Jade Barko (2^nd of the game) before ultimately dropping a 9-6 decision.

Although just missing out on the medals, the fourth-place result still spoke of a great result for the Gryphs. In each of Guelph's four games, Gryphon's goalkeeper Shayla Larson was named the Player of the Game for Guelph.