Men's Lacrosse | 11/9/2018 11:59:00 PM

TORONTO – Liam MacDonald of North Vancouver, B.C., registered a hat-trick and was named player of the game as the McGill Redmen toppled the host Toronto Varsity Blues 11-6, in quarter-final action at the 2018 Baggataway Cup men's lacrosse championship on Friday at Varsity Stadium.

Six different players scored for the Redmen, who advanced to Saturday's Baggataway Cup semifinals, where they will face two-time reigning champion Western at 4 p.m. McGill will be looking to avenge last year's national semifinal loss to the Mustangs.

The other semifinal pits the Trent Excalibur against the Brock Badgers, who defeated the Nipissing Lakers 18-4 in the first quarter-final of the day, in Saturday's rainy first semifinal at 1 p.m. Both Trent and Western had a first-round bye as firs-place finishers in the East and West divisions, respectively.

"We played well but not as well as we wanted to. We led by six at halftime but ran into penalty trouble in the third quarter to let them back in the game," said McGill head coach Tim Murdoch, who troops had a 34-26 edge in shots and won 11 of 19 faceoffs.

"Their young goalie was really hot, he came out of nowhere, took us by surprise and was very good."

Rookie goaltender Macon Jeffreys made 23 saves to earn player of the game laurels for the Blues. Jeffreys opened the game with three big saves but the Redmen eventually found the answer, scoring three first-quarter goals to lead 3-0 after 20 minutes with marksmen Andrew Chase of Summit, N.J., MacDonald and co-captain Maxime Murdoch of Westmount, Que., finding the back of the net.

McGill outscored Toronto 4-1 through the second frame to take a commanding 7-1 lead at halftime. Murdoch added his second, along with goals from sophomore attackman Patrick Turner of Stouffville, Ont., MacDonald and Tanner Baldin of Brantford, Ont.

In the third quarter, Toronto used their special teams to battle back, outscoring McGill 4-2, led by two power-play markers from rookie middie Nick Pison. Replying for the Redmen was sophomore Colton Campbell of Boulder, Col., and Chase, with his second of the contest. 

However, McGill opened the fourth quarter with an early goal from MacDonald to restore a five-goal cushion and Turner added his second of the game.

Goaltender Michael Gallo, an architecture junior from Glen Rock, N.J., registered 20 saves to register the win.

"The pace of the game was kind of medium for us. Today was kind of like a dress rehearsal for the semifinal," added the McGill bench boss, whose team was a heavy favourite to win the first round.. You're a little nervous, make your mistakes and get it out of your system so that you're ready for the semifinal on Saturday.

REDMEN RAP: All-conference faceoff specialist Gardie Herr won eight of 11 draws, while Julian Smith-Voudouris won three of eight.


LINK TO SCORING SUMMARY

GOALS BY QUARTER:
MCG 3-4-2-2: 11
TOR 0-1-4-1: 6
 
Players of the game:
MCG: Liam MacDonald
TOR: Macon Jeffreys
 
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
 
Friday, November 9
16:00 Quarter-Final 1: Brock 18, Nipissing 4
19:00 Quarter-Final 2: McGill 11, Toronto 6 

Saturday, November 10
13:00 Semifinal 1: Trent vs Brock
16:00 Semifinal 2: Western vs McGill

Sunday, November 11
13:00 Championship Final: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2