Men's Lacrosse | 10/18/2017 11:41:00 PM
Freshman Oliver Bolsterli (PHOTO BY DEREK DRUMMOND)
MONTREAL --
Goose Bolton of Darien, Conn., scored four times and
Alexander Linton of Ridgewood, N.J., netted a hat-trick, including the game-winning tally, as McGill rallied for a 10-7 victory over visiting Bishop's in a key Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association contest at Percival Molson Stadium, Wednesday.
The result avenged McGill's 12-11 triple overtime loss to the Gaiters last month, and more importantly, clinched the top spot in the CUFLA East. It marks the seventh straight season pennant for the Redmen, who improved to 10-1. McGill sits tied with Trent (10-2), with one game remaining before post-season play but holds the head-to-head tie-breaker.
It was a disappointing result for Bishop's (7-3), which would have to upset second-place Trent (10-2) in a sudden-death wild-card playoff on Oct. 28 in order to represent the East along with McGill at the CUFLA Final Six championship in Kingston, Ont., Nov. 3-5. Queen's (2-8), as host team gets the third playoff berth from the East Division.
"One of the keys to winning tonight was that we put
Oliver Bolsterli, a freshman defender, on against
Sam Firth, their high-scoring rookie (27 goals in 10 games) who killed us last time out with six goals," said McGill head coach
Tim Murdoch, a native of Princeton, N.J. "Bolsterli is a good, young hard-nosed player from The Hill Academy, a strong sports school, and he shut Firth down completely."
McGill led 2-1 after the opening quarter and 3-2 at halftime but BU came flying out of the intermission and tallied twice to take a 5-4 lead. McGill settled down and added a pair to regain the advantage at 6-5 after three stanzas, then outscored Bishop's 4-2 in the final quarter.
"We learned our lesson last time against the Gaiters and tried to control the tempo, we didn't want to play run-and-gun with them because that's their forte," noted Murdoch. "We wanted to play a more methodical offensive style with the ball, kind of like the old Boston Celtics and not the L.A. Lakers from back in the day when it was
Larry Bird against
Magic Johnson."
Rounding out the scoring for McGill with one goal apiece was
Liam MacDonald of North Vancouver, B.C,,
Patrick Brandell of St. Charles, Illinois., and
Kieran McKay of Richmond, B.C. Teammate
Emile Sassone-Lawless from Ithaca, N.Y., collected three helpers.
Bishop's had two markers apiece from
Eric Mawdsley and
Sam Fontaine, with singles going to
Xavier Perron,
Simon Winquist (the son of former McGill hockey player
Todd Winquist) and
Joel Wright.
Goalie
William Waesche, a fifth-year senior from Greenwich, Conn., kicked out nine of 16 shots faced for the victory, while BU 'keeper
Matthew Wolf was beaten 10 times on 18 shots.
"We asked our team to play with more conservatism and it paid off as we had fewer turnovers, and we only had four penalties," added Murdoch. "Our defence was outstanding, while our offence played well, controlled the ball, and generally made good decisions."
McGill (10-1) will close out the regular season on the road last-place Carleton (1-9) on Saturday, Oct. 21.. Bishop's (7-3) plays host to Ottawa (4-7) and Carleton, Oct. 21-22. The next weekend, McGill would host a sudden-death playoff game against the fourth-place team, likely Nipissing (3-7) or Ottawa (4-7) on Oct. 28 prior to qualifying for Nationals.
LINK TO BOXSCORE
2017 CUFLA MEN'S LACROSSE STANDINGS
(12-game season; updated after games on Oct. 18)
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x-clinched first place
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