Men's Lacrosse | 11/10/2018 6:47:00 PM

TORONTO  – Liam MacDonald notched his second hat-trick in as many days but McGill fell short as Western cruised to 10-6 semifinal victory at the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association's Baggataway Cup championship tournament, Saturday, at Varsity Stadium.

The two-time reigning champion Mustangs will battle Brock -- which won their semifinal 12-11 in overtime against the Trent Excalibur -- in a repeat of last season's championship final.
 
Third-year Mustangs midfielder Cole Davis led all players with four goals in the victory over McGill. He scored the game's first three goals in the opening 10 minutes as Western led from start to finish.

"Western completely dominated us on faceoffs and that gave them a huge advantage in possession time. I would guess that they had the ball twice as much as us," said McGill head coach Tim Murdoch, whose troops actually outshot Western 24-20. "Despite that we had plenty of scoring opportunities but couldn't convert, especially in the first half. We didn't shoot well and also had some breakdowns on defence."

In fact, McGill only won 38 per cent of the faceoffs which is also approximates the per cent of possession time they really reduced their scoring chances.
 
Veteran middie Rowan Kelly added to the Mustangs lead late in the second quarter before MacDonald got the Redmen on the board with 2:20 remaining in the first half. Cody Ward added a late marker for Western as the defending champs led 5-1 at halftime. It was a tough way to finish a great season but the better team won today."
 
The Mustangs outscored the Redmen 2-1 through the third quarter as Jonathan Tokiwa and Ward scored for Western and Tanner Baldin replied for McGill. Baldin was named as McGill's player of the game.
 
The two teams traded goals throughout the fourth quarter with McGill making a late surge. Andrew Chase and McDonald scored two apiece but it was too little, too late as the Mustangs came away with the four-goal victory.

Mustangs goaltender Manraj Nijjar saved 18 of 24 shots for the victory, while Redmen goalie Michael Gallo save 10 of 20.
 
McGill finished with a 12-4 record overall, including a 9-1 second-place finish in the CUFLA East. The team is only expected to lose one player from their 41-man roster. Midfielder Eric Van Hees, a management senior from Oakville, Ont., is the only graduating senior but could return for a fifth year of eligibility.

After the game, Murdoch addressed the team and told them that he will return for one more season as head coach but after that, he is expecting to turn over the coaching reins to one of his assistants, while he focuses more on the administrative side of running the lacrosse program, with fundraising being a major focus.

"We're putting in a bid to host the championship next season," said Murdoch, a native of Princeton, N.J., who has served as a volunteer head coach since 2003 and has posted a career record of 180-86-2 in 268 contests overall for a winning percentage of .675.  He guided the Redmen to seven consecutive CUFLA East pennants (2011-2017), three undefeated regular seasons (2013-2015) and two national championships, claiming the league's Baggataway Cup in 2012 and 2015.

"After the 2019 season, I plan on changing lanes, so to speak. It will be a transitional year and I will re-evaluate at the end of the season. I think that the future of the program would be better served if I shifted my focus on fundraising, recruitment and mentoring our coaching staff so that one of them could eventually take over as head coach."
 
LINK TO SCORING SUMMARY

GOALS BY PERIOD:
WES 3-2-2-3: 10
MCG 0-1-1-4: 6

Players of the game:
WES: Cole Davis
MCG: Tanner Baldin
 
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
 
Friday, November 9
Quarter-Final 1: Brock 18, Nipissing 4
Quarter-Final 2: McGill 11, Toronto 6 

Saturday, November 10
Semifinal 1: Brock 12, Trent 11 (OT)
Semifinal 2: Western 10, McGill 6

Sunday, November 11
13:00 Championship Final: Brock vs Western