GUELPH, Ont.- You could not have scripted it any better. Playing in their first OUA regular season game at the familiar confines of the Guelph Gryphons Soccer Complex since before the pandemic began, the Gryphons scored a home-opening win off the boot of a Guelph product playing in his first OUA game at home Sunday afternoon. Coming off the bench in the second half, Guelph's own Gray Yates broke a scoreless deadlock in the 80^th minute propelling the Gryphs to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Windsor Lancers.

"It was a fairy tale story for Gray," said Gryphon's Head Coach Keith Mason. "He comes on for his home debut and scores the winning goal. We are very proud of him and we are very proud of the boys for battling hard in what has been a very tough week."

Having already faced each other just four days ago, in a game that saw the two sides play to a 1-1 draw, there was no shortage of energy and passion for the second go round.

Right from the opening whistle both teams did their best to apply pressure to their opponents. For the most part, the Gryphons were able to control most of the possession and momentum during the opening 45-minutes. Guelph created multiple chances for themselves, however, they were just ever so slightly off with the finish. In the 21^st minute, the Gryphons worked the ball deep into the Lancer's box but despite being only a few feet from the goal, somehow the ball stayed out and ultimately went out of play for a goal kick. Then in the 41^st minute, Mitchell Lefebvre broke in but sent his strike just wide of the left post.

With neither side able to get on the board in the opening 45-minutes, the game remained 0-0 as the second half got underway.

After making a couple of adjustments, the Lancers began to push back. Paul Di Peo found himself on the receiving end of a glorious opportunity from inside the Gryphon's 18-yard box, but his shot attempt went just right of the Guelph goal. Then just a few minutes later in the 67^th minute, Gryphon's keeper Svyatoslav Artemenko came up with a big save on another Windsor shot from close range. The save seemed to serve as a momentum swing for the Gryphons as they began to tilt the field back down towards the Lancer's end. After sending a shot off the crossbar in the 77^th minute, the Gryphons finally found their breakthrough three minutes later. Coming in the 80^th minute, Alex Zis sent a perfect ball forward in to the box for Yates who converted from in tight and sent the GGSC into celebration.

From that point on the Gryphon's managed to hold possession until the dying moments when the Lancers were awarded a corner kick. With everyone loaded into the Gryphon's box, Guelph was able to clear the danger just before the referee blew the final whistle.

"The boys battled," Mason said. "It has been a busy week for them, and Windsor was awesome. We tweaked the system a little bit though, made a couple of changes and it worked."

"The team has adapted really well for what we have asked them to do both on and off the field. There has been a lot put on them as players throughout all of the varsity programs, not just ours, but they have shown good character and earned a tough three points today."