MONTREAL –
Ethan Forgrave of Edmonton registered a hat-trick as McGill outlasted Bishop's 8-6 in a key CUFLA men's lacrosse contest, which kicked off Homecoming Week, at Percival Molson Stadium, Thursday.
The victory gave McGill a sweep of their two-games with BU and improved the Redbirds record to 6-2 with two games left to play. More importantly, it gave McGill a hold on second-place in the CUFLA East. The third-place Gaiters dropped to 6-3 but can still catch McGill should the Redbirds falter in both of their remaining contests.
McGill led 3-1 after the first quarter, 6-2 at halftime and 7-4 after three. The Gaiters narrowed the gap to 7-6 but
Isaiah Cree of Akwesasne, N.Y., potted his second of the soiree to give the home side a two-goal cushion.
Forgrave, a speedy, 5-foot-9, 160-pound midfielder, opened the scoring with just 4:06 remaining in the first quarter. Two minutes later, the 22-year-old science senior put the Redbirds ahead 3-0 , then he completed his hat-trick at 5:19 of the second stanza to give McGill a 4-2 lead.
It was a breakout game for Forgrave, a third-round selection by Saskatchewan in the 2021 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft.
"He exploded tonight and was by far our best player," said McGill head coach
Nicolas Soubry. "He's been working hard but not getting results, so we made a difficult decision to move him from the first line to the second line and it paid off tonight."
Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Montrealer
Olivier Pomerleau, freshman
Rowan Birrell of Vancouver, B.C., and
Joshua Jewell, a freshman from La Canada, Calif.
Hank Wulder countered with a hat-trick of his own for the Gaiters. The other BU marksmen included
Antoine Tremblay with a pair and
Alex Lizotte.
The Redbirds held an 18-15 edge in shots on net.
McGill goaltender
Joseph Boehm, a science senior from Waterloo, Ont., was stellar between the pipes, with nine saves for the victory.
Sebastien Elie made 10 saves for the Gaiters and took the loss.
It was Senior's Nights for McGill, which was playing its last regular season home game. A pregame ceremony was held to recognize the team's graduating seniors, a group composed of
Ethan Forgrave,
Cameron McGinnis,
Steven Pelliccione,
Christopher Parkinson,
Hayden Middlebrook,
Daniel Chand,
Nathan Perrello and
Declan Kingston-Fry.
Both teams return to play on Oct. 22. McGill (6-2) plays at fourth-place Queen's (5-3) in a 2 p.m. faceoff, while Bishop's (6-3) travels to winless Ottawa (0-8) for a 7 p.m. start.
BOXSCORE
CUFLA STANDINGS
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
