Men's Lacrosse | 10/28/2018 7:32:00 PM
PETERBOROUGH, ONT -- They came, they saw, they were conquered. The McGill men's lacrosse team survived a flat tire, a late arrival for a Saturday road game in Kingston and a snowstorm en route to Peterborough, but their luck ran out when they finally made it to Trent University for a Sunday matinee against a well-rested team waiting in the wings.
Jeff Fernandes scored four goals as the Excalibur cruised to a 12-7 victory over McGill in the regular season finale at Justin Shiu Stadium to finish first in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association's East Division. Both team's completed their league schedule with an identical 9-1 record and split their two-game series but Trent outscored McGill 26-23 to take the top seed on a head-to-head tie-breaker. It marked the first time since 2011 that McGill has not won the East Division pennant.
The result also snapped McGill's win streak at 15 consecutive games dating back a year to their last loss, a 12-11 triple overtime setback at Bishop's on Sept. 21, 2107.
Trent, which outshot a tired-looking McGill squad 22-16, featured a lineup with four players from the National Lacrosse League.
McGill scored the opening goal and took an early 2-1 lead but it was the Excalibur who led 4-3 after the first quarter and held a 5-4 lead at halftime. Trent then won the last two periods, 3-1 and 4-2, respectively.
The result spoiled a four-goal performance by McGill sniper
Seth Obadia, an 18-year-old transfer from Lafayette College who led the Redmen in scoring and ranked seventh among league leaders with 24 goals in 10 games.
Other McGill marksmen included
Andrew Chase with a pair and
Liam MacDonald.
Rounding out the scoring for Trent was
Nick Finlay and
Nick Chaykowsky with two apiece, plus
Nick Karam,
Cam Garlin,
Adam Perroni and
Nic Andreoli
Goaltender
Austin Cairns collected the victory with nine saves. McGill 'keeper
Michael Gallo, a junior from Glen Rock, N.J., made 10 saves and suffered his first career loss, as his league record dropped to 6-1 on the season and 7-1 lifetime.
The playoff scenario is as follows. In the East, top-seeded Trent (9-1) will host sixth-place Ottawa (2-8) in a sudden-death play-in game to qualify for the CUFLA Final Six championship tournament, known as the Baggataway Cup. Second-seeded McGill (9-1) will host fifth-place Bishop's (4-6) at Percival Molson Stadium on Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m. Third-seeded Queen's (6-4) will host fourth-seeded Nipissing (5-5).
In the West Division, top-seeded Western (9-1) will host fifth-place Laurier (3-7), while second-seeded Brock (9-1) will host third-place Guelph (6-4) and fourth-seeded Toronto gets a bye as the host team of the national championship tourney, which is slated for Nov. 9-11.
BOXSCORE
2018 CANADIAN UNIVERSITY FIELD LACROSSE ASSOCIATION STANDINGS (FINAL)
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