Kingston, Ont. – It was not the way they were hoping their 2021 season end but Wednesday night in Kingston, the Guelph Gryphons saw their season come to a close after dropping a 2-0 decision to the Queen's Gaels in the OUA quarter-finals.
 
Having made a strong late season push to secure their playoff berth, the Gryphons entered the post-season tournament as the No. 5-seed, and on a hot streak.
 
However, despite having won their last two league matches and four of their previous five, all of that momentum was quickly brought to a halt on Wednesday against Queen's. Simply not allowing Guelph any opportunity to get rolling early in the game, the Gaels struck twice in the first seven minutes of the contest putting the Gryphons in a desperate position.
 
It was only the 3^rd minute of play when the Gaels tallied their first of two goals. On the receiving end of a crossing ball into the Guelph box, Jenna Matsukubo redirected the ball past Gryphon's senior keeper, Brooke Davidson. Then, even before Guelph had much of a chance to collect themselves, the Gaels struck again, this time from a set piece. Awarded a corner in the 7^th minute, Jenna Leslie smashed the cross from Hannah Melchiorre, which struck the crossbar, bounced off the grass and then into the hands of Davidson. However, the linesman ruled the ball crossed the goal line before settling in the hands of the Gryphon's keeper resulting in the second goal of the match for the home side.
 
All of a sudden trailing by a pair of goals, the Gryphons were left with no choice but to continue battling. Doing anything they could to generate opportunities, the Gryphons were able to gain some possession in the attacking third, but were unable to generate the chance on goal that they were looking for.
 
Still down 2-0 at halftime, the Gryphons continued to fight as the final 45-minutes got underway. As the half progressed, suddenly a few opportunities began to show themselves for Guelph. With time becoming of the essence, Sidney VanderHoef came very close to putting her team on the board. Taking a free kick, VanderHoef just sent the ball sailing over the crossbar. Then in stoppage time, the Gryphons had another free kick to work with, but this time it was Queen's keeper, Kirsten Tynan getting her fingertips on the strike from Sami Falkenstein to deflect it away.
 
Unfortunately for the Gryphs, it wasn't very long after that save when the official whistled the end of the match, and ultimately the end of the Gryphon's season.
 
Both goalies made six saves in the contest, but in the end, the first half deficit proved too much to overcome.
 
The playoff defeat comes on the heels of the Gryphons putting together a tremendous 6-2-2 regular season record.
 
The Gaels will now move on to the OUA semi-finals where they will meet the top-seeded Ottawa Gee Gees. The other semi-final will feature the Western Mustangs playing host to the Nipissing Lakers.