Brock Badgers beaten as lacrosse Redmen advance to CUFLA national championship game

McGill's Alex Beckes (left). Photo courtesy of Jim Bouzianis

LENNOXVILLE, Que -- Emile Sassone-Lawless and Anders Bjella each tallied twice leading McGill to a 7-5 victory over the Brock Badgers in a national semifinal at the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship tournament on Coulter Field, Friday.

The Redmen (1-0), who had a first-round bye, are now one victory away from capturing the Baggataway Cup, which they previously captured in 2012. They can win the second CUFLA crown in school history with a victory over Western (2-0) in Sunday's gold medal game, slated for 1 pm. The Mustangs qualified with a 17-12 semifinal conquest over host Bishop's in Saturday's other semi.

LIVE WEBCAST
LIVE SCORES VIA TWITTER

Brock had the challenge of having to complete Friday's night's suspended quarter-final game on Saturday morning (a 10-9 overtime win vs Trent) due to a power outtage, which left them little recovery time before they took on the CUFLA East Division champion Redmen in a 5 pm start.

The Badgers actually opened the scoring but McGill roared back for a 4-1 lead after the opening quarter and extended it to 5-1 by halftime before Brock awoke from their slumber and outscored the Redmen 4-2 over the second half.

"It was a really hard-fought game," said Tim Murdoch, in his 13th season as head coach at McGill. "Brock came out hard but they were tired... We had a big start and built a bit of a lead on them. They fought back extremely hard in the fourth quarter. This was a team that I had to be concerned about... it was quite an effort by them and we were lucky to get out with a win."

Other marksmen for McGill included Jake Gutman, Connor Goodwin and Rhys Burnell, who was credited with the game-winner with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Davis Neal, who tallied the overtime winner against Trent earlier, scored a hat-trick in a losing cause for the Badgers. Other markers came from the sticks of Brandon Slade and Nick Rybka.

McGill finished atop the CUFLA East with a perfect 12-0 record, while Western won the West Division pennant with an 11-1 record. Their only setback was a 14-12 loss to Brock.

"We obviously have to play strong defence against Western as they're explosive offensively," added Murdoch. "On the offensive side for our team, we have to do a better job of putting the ball in the net."

2015 CUFLA FINAL SIX Baggataway Cup National Championship Tournament

Nov. 6 Bishop's 6, Guelph 5 (Quarter-final)
Nov. 6 Brock 10, Trent 9 (OT) (Quarter-final)
Nov. 7 Western 17, Bishop's 12 (Semifinal)
Nov. 7 McGill 7, Brock 5 (Semifinal)
Nov. 8 McGill vs Western, 1 pm (Final)

SCORING SUMMARY
Brock 5 @ McGill 7
(Saturday November 07, 2015 @ Bishop's University - Coulter Field)

Goals by Quarter
TEAM	1	2	3	4	F
Brock	1	0	1	3	5
McGill	4	1	1	1	7

1st Quarter Scoring
TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
13:35	Brock	9 Davis Neal Assisted by: 21 Beaudoin
12:17	McGill	19 Anders Bjella Assisted by: 4 Sassone-Lawless
5:23	McGill	4 Emile Sassone-Lawless Assisted by: 18 Murdoch
3:41	McGill	4 Emile Sassone-Lawless Assisted by: 7 Gutman
0:54	McGill	7 Jake Gutman Assisted by: 18 Murdoch

2nd Quarter Scoring
TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
13:46	McGill	14 Connor Goodwin Unassisted

3rd Quarter Scoring
TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
16:32	Brock	9 Davis Neal Unassisted
3:04	McGill	88 Rhys Burnell Assisted by: 14 Goodwin

4th Quarter Scoring
TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
13:37	McGill	19 Anders Bjella Unassisted
11:30	Brock	3 Brandon Slade Unassisted
6:46	Brock	9 Davis Neal Assisted by: 8 Magee
2:53	Brock	19 Nick Rybka Assisted by: 3 Slade

1st Quarter Penalties
TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
13:53	McGill	14 Goodwin Technical 0.5 minutes
2:33	McGill	8 Bradley Technical 0 minutes

2nd Quarter Penalties
TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
9:55	Brock	18 Houghton Technical 0.5 minutes
6:21	Brock	5 Kelly Personal 1 minutes
6:20	McGill	22 Linton Personal 1 minutes
5:15	McGill	50 Bolton Personal 1 minutes
4:10	Brock	1 Karam Technical 0.5 minutes
2:35	Brock	12 Baile Personal 1 minutes
1:46	McGill	50 Bolton Technical 0.5 minutes

3rd Quarter Penalties
TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
3:14	Brock	17 Ham Technical 0 minutes
1:57	Brock	21 Beaudoin Personal 1 minutes

4th Quarter Penalties
TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
18:17	McGill	14 Goodwin Personal 1 minutes
18:17	McGill	14 Goodwin Technical 0.5 minutes
16:16	Brock	17 Ham Technical 0.5 minutes
12:53	Brock	5 Kelly Personal 1 minutes
4:52	Brock	71 Bourassa Technical 0.5 minutes
4:52	McGill	21 Rakoczy Personal 1 minutes

McGill

#	Player	G	A	PTS	PPG	SHG	PIMS
4	Sassone-Lawless, Emile	2	1	3	0	0	0
19	Bjella, Anders	2	0	2	0	0	0
14	Goodwin (C), Connor	1	1	2	0	0	2
7	Gutman, Jake	1	1	2	0	0	0
18	Murdoch, Maxime	0	2	2	0	0	0
88	Burnell, Rhys	1	0	1	0	0	0
8	Bradley, Quinton	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Lekacz, Alex	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	Rakoczy, Paul	0	0	0	0	0	1
23	Laird, Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Frost, Rufus	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	Roussos, Alec	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	Nix, Hayden	0	0	0	0	0	0
55	Williams, Dan	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Bromley, Spencer	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	Hofmann, Bradley	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	Tse, Matthew	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Bouzianis, Matt	0	0	0	0	0	0
50	Bolton, Goose	0	0	0	0	0	1.5
13	Genereux, Louis-Charles	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Linton, Alex	0	0	0	0	0	1
27	Fontaine, Shawn	0	0	0	0	0	0
77	Beckes, Alex	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	Wilson, Ben	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	Mullen, Brendan	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Abric, Durham	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Van Hees, Eric	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Rougeau, Paul	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	Wickersham, Cyrus	0	0	0	0	0	0
99	Hosking, Bohe	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Vickery, James	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Miao, Kevin	0	0	0	0	0	0

#	McGILL GOALIE	Mins	Shots	GA
5	Waesche, William	80:00	14	5

Brock

#	Player	G	A	PTS	PPG	SHG	PIMS
9	Neal, Davis	3	0	3	0	0	0
3	Slade, Brandon	1	1	2	0	0	0
19	Rybka, Nick	1	0	1	0	0	0
8	Magee, Conor	0	1	1	0	0	0
21	Beaudoin, Nico	0	1	1	0	0	1
55	Goetz, Matt	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Nyhuus, Jake	0	0	0	0	0	0
77	DeWolfe, Colton	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Kelly, Josh	0	0	0	0	0	2
12	Baile, Parker	0	0	0	0	0	1
71	Bourassa, Matt	0	0	0	0	0	0.5
17	Ham, Connor	0	0	0	0	0	0.5
22	MacKinnon, Adam	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Moore, Kyle	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	Popadinac, Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Shoeman, Jesse	0	0	0	0	0	0
88	Martin, Cole	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Tamas, Alec	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Stoikos, Alex	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	Smith, Connor	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Colquhoun, James	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	Waters, Spencer	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Houghton, Grayson	0	0	0	0	0	0.5
89	Walker, Aaron	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Guiney, Alex	0	0	0	0	0	0.5
1	Karam, Nick	0	0	0	0	0	0.5
24	McWatters, Jeremy	0	0	0	0	0	0

#	BROCK GOALIE	Mins	Shots	GA
7	Guiney, Alex	80:00	20	7


2015 CUFLA REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS (FINAL


WEST DIVISION	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
Western	12	11	1	164	93	22
Brock	12	9	3	171	109	18
Guelph	12	8	4	131	102	16
McMaster	12	5	7	119	132	10
Laurentian	12	5	7	98	117	10
e-Nipissing	12	5	7	128	164	10
e-Laurier	12	3	9	90	138	6
e-Toronto	12	2	10	110	156	4

EAST DIVISION	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
McGill	12	12	0	157	66	24
x-Bishop's	12	10	2	125	64	20
Queen's	12	8	4	112	109	16
Trent	12	6	6	107	110	12
Ottawa	12	3	9	61	123	6
e-Carleton	12	3	9	87	128	6
y-Concordia	12	0	12	1	50	0

x-receives automatic bye as host team of CUFLA national championship
y-Concordia lost their first two games, then withdrew from league. All of their remaining games were 1-0 forfeits
e-eliminated from playoffs