Men's Lacrosse | 9/20/2018 11:59:00 PM
MONTREAL --
Maxime Murdoch of Westmount, Que., and
Patrick Turner of Stouffville, Ont., each scored four goals as McGill clobbered Ottawa 17-8 in a Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association contest played at Forbes Field, Thursday.
It was the fifth victory in as many outings for the Redmen who led 6-1 after the first quarter, 11-3 at halftime and 14-7 after three.
"That team took us to overtime in Ottawa last week and it wasn't an easy win," said McGill head coach
Tim Murdoch. "We we're really kind of scratching our heads about how that happened and were very focussed on our preparation for the rematch. We certainly didn't expect to beat them like that today but everything was clicking. We just took control early, got off to a big start by scoring a bunch of goals early on and we won 70 per cent of our faceoffs."
McGill has now registered eight hat-tricks in five games, two of them by Murdoch, a co-captain and 21-year-old son of the head coach. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior -- who is majoring in North American studies -- is now tied for third among league leaders with 12 goals. He added a pair of assists to finish with a six-point soiree to reached the century mark in that department and now has 105 career points.
The Redmen had a 29-17 margin in shots as goalkeeper
Michael Gallo registered nine saves for the victory.
"I had kind of an emotional moment before the game," revealed the Redmen bench boss, who had lost his 87-year-old father
Bill Murdoch to Alzheimer's in July. "I hadn't talked to the team about that yet. And
Mike Gallo had lost his mother,
Diane, in July as well, so all of our players are wearing her initials on their helmets this season.
"In the pre-game huddle, I told the guys about a book that I'm reading called "Boys in the Boat". It's about a rowing crew that beat the favoured German boat during the 1936 Olympics under the Nazi regime. In rowing, you can't have a weak link, someone who isn't performing. So I got a little emotional and told the guys that I was dedicating this game to my father because he was on the rowing team during his college days at Princeton. He used to tell me that the only way to win is if everyone's pulling their weight and working hard... I wanted the guys to realize that there's more to life than just playing lacrosse. I told them to play hard for themselves but also for my dad and Mike's mom. It's not really about winning or losing a game. A loss is losing a parent, not a lacrosse game. It's been on my mind lately because I'm heading with Max to a family wedding in Nantucket this weekend and it will be the first time that the family will be seeing each other since my dad passed away."
Other marksmen for McGill included
Liam MacDonald and
Colton Campbell, with two goals apiece. Rounding out the scoring was
Seth Obadia,
Andrew Chase,
Kieran McKay,
Brendan Byrne and
Cougar Kirby.
The Gee-Gees also had a double hat-trick on the scoresheet, with
Frederick Hartley and
Spencer Corkey both striking three times, while single markers went to
Kyle Stavely and
Brady Martin.
Isaac Lavallee started between the pipes for Ottawa and took the loss. He allowed 14 goals in 62 minutes before being replaced by
Evan Fox, who conceded three goals in the final 18 minutes.
The Gee-Gees dropped to fifth in the seven-team CUFLA East Division standings with a 1-3 record. they will host Queen's (2-2) on Sept. 22.
McGill, which leads the division with an unblemished 5-0 record, is off this weekend and will resume play on Sept. 27 when they host Bishop's at 8:30 p.m. That game will be followed two days later by their annual alumni game, slated for Sept. 29 at 3:30 p.m.
LINK TO SCORING SUMMARY
2018 CUFLA STANDINGS (updated)
