SUDBURY - The 2-2 Gryphons men's lacrosse team made their annual trip to Sudbury on Saturday and left Laurentian University with 18-10 road win over the Voyageurs. The win moves the Gryphons to 3-2 on the season, good for 3rd place in the CUFLA West Division standings.
Playing on the hottest day of the year with five starters missing from the lineup, the Gryphons needed the entire roster to contribute to the win.
Mitchell Ogilvie (Peterborough, ON) opened the scoring for Guelph only a minute into the game. On the Gryphons' next possession, 4th year veteran midfielder and team captain
Ben Heidecker ripped a shot inside the near post to give the Gryphons a 2-0 lead. The goal was Heidecker's first in his Gryphon career.
It looked like the Gryphons were going to walk away with the win, but the Voyageurs responded with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead with seven minutes remaining in the quarter. However, Guelph's
Josh Manangan (Rexdale, ON) dominated at the face off and gave the Gryphons possession. As the period wound down, Guelph had three unanswered goals for their own from
James Short (Kitchener, ON),
Liam Corbett (Burlington, ON) and
Michael Berger (Uxbridge, ON).
Guelph's defence, stung for three goals in the opening frame, tightened up and shut down most of Laurentian's offensive capabilities. On the offensive side of the ball, Guelph was more patient with their possessions and controlled the tempo of the play. Olgilvie netted 3 more in the quarter to give Guelph an 8-4 lead at half.
Gryphon offensive coordinator
Dan Cannon said the team should have been much further ahead. "We didn't take advantage of some early opportunities and there were at least three times when we missed good chances and Laurentian went the other way and scored. We were happy though, that everyone contributed which you like to see on a day like today."
Four different players, including defensive midfielder
Mark Wilson (Toronto, ON) scored five goals for Guelph in the third quarter, breaking the game wide open and giving Guelph a 13-5 lead going into the 4th. Wilson's goal, assisted by rookie longstick defenseman
Ross McCullough (Burlington, ON) was his first as a Gryphon. The Gryphons let their guard down in the final frame, giving Laurentian several power play opportunities and a bit of momentum. Laurentian scored five times in the final quarter but the Gryphons responded each time. Mitch Olgilvie scored his 5th of the game and made a nice feed inside to
Quenton Begin (Guelph, ON) who buried a shot to the bottom corner.
Brandon Tanacs (Toronto, ON) scored twice, once off a nice dodge and once of a rebound, while Heidecker got his second as a Gryphon after winning a face off, splitting the Laurentian defense and firing a bounce shot to the top right corner for his second career goal.
"When it's this hot out, you're missing 5 starters and you've travelled 5 hours on a bus, you are happy that you have depth on the roster," commented Gryphons head coach
Sam Kosakowski. "Guys like Matthew Sykes (Oakville, ON), Adam Kromer (Whitby, ON) and Ross McCullough stepped up and logged a lot of minutes for us on defence."
In all, 10 Gryphons ended up on the score sheet. Olgilvie lead all scorers with 5 goals and 4 assists. Mike Berger had 3 goals while Heidecker, Short and Tanacs had 2 goals and an assist each. Quenton Begin had a goal and 2 assists while
Colin Walker (Toronto, ON), Wilson and Liam Corbett (Burlington, ON) each had a goal. Ross McCullough recorded an assist.
The Gryphons have a tough week ahead of them when the take on the University of Toronto on Saturday, September 30 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, followed the next day by their rematch with Brock, at home at 1pm.
