GUELPH, Ont.- The defending OUA champions are once again back in very familiar territory. Picking up a 3-1 semi-final victory Friday night at Varsity Field over the Western Mustangs, the No. 3-nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons secured their 14th straight trip to the OUA Championship game.
Led by a pair of early goals from Delta, B.C. product, Bailey Mitchell, the Gryphons were able to quickly gain control of the contest and ultimately propel themselves to victory.
The match was only nine minutes old when the Gryphons first struck. Scoring the first of her two goals in the game, Mitchell was able to kick-start the Guelph offence. Then just six minutes later, Bailey was back at it finding the back of the Western goal in the 15th minute.
Continuing to keep the pressure on, Guelph further increased its lead in the 20th minute. Getting on the score sheet this time was the Gryph's leading scorer from the 2021 regular season, Darci Moher.
Carrying that 3-0 lead into the half, the Gryphons had all kinds of momentum on their side as they prepared for the second thirty minute session.
Looking to nurse their three goal lead the rest of the way on a cool and rainy night in Guelph, the Gryphons were able to keep the visitors out of their end for much of the second half. However, in the final fifteen minutes, the Mustangs began to get some traction. Firing three shots, Western was able to make one of them count in the late stages. Playing in the 49th minute, Payten Lang got her team on the board, but that was as close as Western would get.
In the match Guelph went on to out-shoot Western 8-4, although Western was awarded six penalty corners to the Gryphon's four.
Both getting playing time in goal for Guelph, Amanda Hodgert and Nicola Leech combined to allow just the one goal.
With their spot in the OUA Final booked, the Gryphons will now await the result of the other OUA Semi which will take place on Saturday when the No. 2 Toronto Varsity Blues and the No. 5 York Lions meet. If the Varsity Blues prevail, Guelph will then travel to Toronto for the championship game on November 6th. However, if York is victorious, the Gryphons will not have to travel and instead host the Lions next Saturday.
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