The McGill Redbirds took down the top seed in the East, while the Western Mustangs proved their historically good defensive season was no fluke. Now, the two teams will meet in Sunday's Baggataway Cup title game after their victories on Semifinal Saturday at the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship tournament at Justin Chiu Stadium at Trent University. McGill and Western will meet at 2 pm ET in a game that can be seen live on LacrosseTV.
McGill 10, Carleton 8
Box score
With their leading scorer unavailable, the Redbirds showed how important quality depth is. Dylan James went down early on Friday after aggravating a hamstring injury and Rowen Birrell stepped up with 6 goals to get McGill to the semis; Birrell continued to lead the way for the Redbirds Saturday when he scored 4 more goals to pace another win. He had plenty of help, though.
Mark Symon took on James' usual role initiating the offence from X. Where James dominates games and sets up chances for himself and his teammates with agility and darting quickness, Symon is more of a straight-line bull dodger. The change of pace proved difficult for Carleton to adjust to early on and McGill managed to score three times in each of the first three quarters to take a 9-4 lead that was simply too much for the Ravens to overcome. Symon wasn't just initiating, though—he also scored 3 goals that proved to be critical.
Carleton did make a huge push in the final minutes of the game. After Birrell's fourth goal had extended the Redbirds' lead to 10-5 with 5:19 to play, the Ravens continued to push hard. Regular-season CUFLA scoring champ Sam Trumble buried his second of the game with 2:25 left. Just 36 seconds of playing time later, Jacob Garcia got his second. When Cameron York became the third Raven to score his second goal, there were 50 ticks left on the clock. McGill fans, who had been celebrating and breathing easy for most of the game, were notably quietened as the result came more into question.
But Sam MacDonald had been crucial to McGill's success all tournament (indeed, all season) and the faceoff expert stepped up yet again when he was needed most. MacDonald dominated at the faceoff dot and won the ensuing draw after York's goal. From there, the Redbirds were able to run out the final seconds and book their berth in the final.
Western 9, Brock 1
Box score
The Mustangs produced arguably the greatest defensive season in CUFLA history this fall. Through nine regular season games, they allowed just 28 goals, an average of just 3.1 per game that is so good it looks like it must be a misprint.
In their 10th game, Western was downed 13-6 by Guelph. That game, however, was their third in three days of the season's final weekend and came after having to make the trip to Sudbury to play Laurentian then return to London for a home game Sunday. They emphasized with their dominant performance in the Baggataway semifinal that the game against Guelph was an anomaly.
Michael Orlando was masterful in net for the Mustangs when called upon, but the outstanding team defensive effort in front of him may have rendered staying focused between shots faced Orlando's biggest challenge.
The core of Western's success has largely been their midfielders: Chris Dong, Chris da Silva and Jacob Hickey were all voted CUFLA West All Canadians and the power trio showed why again on Saturday. Dong in particular was a force all over the field. He scored a pair of goals and added an assist, plus he was a huge contributor in the defensive zone. Da Silva also scored twice and he had 3 assists. Their importance was underscored from the outset, with da Silva scoring the game's first goal and Dong setting up Max Brook for the second. That was all the scoring in the first quarter; it would prove to be all that Western needed to win the game. With 2 more goals in each of the next two stanzas, though, the Mustangs left little doubt they were ready to roll to the title game.
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