GUELPH, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team suffered a 4-1 loss to the U of T Varsity Blues in Toronto Wednesday night (Mar. 1) in Game 1 of their best-of-three semifinal series with Toronto. The Varsity Blues came out of the gates with impressive speed, scoring three goals in the first period to quickly build a comfortable lead to play in front of. In the second period the Gryphons came out looking like a different team, but any momentum they had was quickly stolen with the Varsity Blues fourth goal midway through the frame. Abby Davies scored the Gryphons only goal of the game eight minutes later to give some life to U of G bench. Despite playing a much stronger third period the Gryphons were unable to beat Toronto goaltender Erica Fryer and would leave Varsity Arena down 1-0 in the series. 

The Gryphons, ranked No. 10 in the latest U SPORTS polls, played their way into the semifinal round with a 2-1 series win over the Windsor Lancers, while the U SPORTS No. 2-ranked Varsity Blues swept the TMU Bold 2-0 to earn a spot in the McCaw Cup semifinal round. The two teams met head-to-head two times during the regular season, with Guelph posting a 1-0-1 record in their two regular season matchups versus the Varsity Blues. 

The Gryphons will look to keep their season alive on Saturday (Mar. 4), when they return to home ice at the Gryphon Centre for a 2:30pm puck drop.