KINGSTON, ONT -- Cameron McGinnis of Scarborough, Ont., scored a school record eight goals while leading McGill to a masterful 14-8 come-from-behind victory over Queen's in a Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association sudden-death wildcard playoff game at Miklas-McCarney Field on Friday.

McGill, which entered the game seeded fourth in the CUFLA East with a 6-4 record, advances to the league's Baggataway Cup championship, a six-team, three-game tournament slated for Nov. 4-6 in Peterborough, Ont. It marks the ninth time in 10 seasons that McGill has qualified for the tourney, excluding the two missed years due to the pandemic. 

The Gaels, who were seeded third with a 7-3 record, are done for the season. McGill took two of three meetings from their archrivals, who stunned the Redbirds 13-7 just six days earlier in Kingston.

McGill led 2-1 after the opening quarter and the teams were knotted 5-5 at halftime. But the Redbirds dominated the second half, winning the third quarter 6-1 and then taking the final stanza 3-0.

McGinnis, a 21-year-old science senior majoring in kinesiology, broke the school's single-game goal-scoring record held by current assistant coach Anders Bjella, who also accomplished his feat in the post-season. Bjella tallied seven goals in a 15-11 victory over Western during the Baggataway Cup gold medal game in Lennoxville, Que., on Nov. 8, 2015.

"Cam was definitely the star out there tonight," said McGill head coach Nicolas Soubry, a former player with the program. "He dominated at his position and it was basically a case of him deciding that he was going to go to the net, shoot and score. He made it look easy with a performance that lifted our team up and gave us tremendous energy."

McGinnis, a six-foot, 203-pound attacker, scored once in the first to tie the score at 1-1. After Queen's scored four consecutive markers to take a 5-2 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the second quarter, McGinnis potted two more to even the score at 5-5. He busted loose for four goals in the third to put the Redbirds ahead 11-6, then opened the scoring in the final quarter.

"I was joking with Coach Bjella after the third quarter that maybe we should sit McGinnis because Bjella's team record was in jeopardy," laughed Soubry, in his second year as bench boss but first season after the pandemic wiped out the 2021 schedule.  "We're a young team and if things start going the wrong way, there's sometimes a panic that can set in. This was a good lesson to learn that we can overcome a three-goal deficit.

"We've been awful in the third quarter this season and I stressed that at halftime," said Soubry, who admitted that he was quite vocal during the intermission. "When you are in your final year, the end (to your collegiate career) can come really quickly, so you have to cherish a moment like this. With eight graduating seniors who were potentially dressing for their last game in a McGill uniform, the guys really came out strong in the third and once we got the lead, we began to score at will and were much better defensively."

Other McGill marksmen included Sam MacDonald of Guelph, Ont., John Miraglia of Memphis, Tenn., Adrian Simons of Cranbrook, B.C., Ethan Forgrave of Edmonton, Patrick Aber of Boulder, Col., and Isaiah Cree of Akwesasne.

Sis different players scored for the Gaels, namley Winston Bashford-Land, Dano Realini, Carter McKenzie, Noah Milsap, Ryan Radisa and Bryan Poetker.

Queen's had a slight 22-21 edge in shots.

Redbirds netminder Joseph Boehm, a senior from Waterloo, Ont., made 14 saves to collect the win, while Aidan Haggarty of the Gaels had only seven saves and was saddled with the loss.

The eight graduating players for McGill include fifth-year seniors Steven Pelliccione, Chris Parkinson and Ethan Forgrave, along with Cameron McGinnis, Nathan Perrello, Declan Kingston-Fry, Hayden Middlebrook and Daniel Chand.

McGill will open its quest for a third-ever Baggataway Cup title in a sudden-death quarter-final on Friday (Nov. 4) at 4:30 p.m. in Peterborough, about four hours northwest of Montreal. Barring an upset in other playoff game this weekend, McGill is expected to open against the Western Mustangs, which won their playoff wildcard game 15-3 over McMaster on Friday. A perennial contender that finished second in the CUFLA West this season with a 9-1 record. the Mustangs previously lost twice to McGill in the gold medal games of 2012 (7-6 in OT) and 2015 (15-11). McGill has reached the final five times, including silver medal finishes behind Guelph in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

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BAGGATAWAY CUP INFO

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca