PETERBOROUGH, ONT – Sophomore Rowan Birrell of North Vancouver, B.C., scored a career-high six goals and Isaiah Cree, a senior from Akwesasne, N.Y., notched the game-winner with 5:40 remaining as third-seeded McGill rallied for a 9-8 upset over No.2 Guelph in a quarter-final, Friday, at the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship tournament.
 
It was Birrell's fourth hat-trick of the season and the 11th by a McGill player this fall.

"I missed a lot of chances in the first half but I kind of pulled it together in second half," said Birrell, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound attackman majoring in biology. "It was looking rough after the first half, especially after we lost a couple of guys who were injured. We just realized that we need to step up. We had to go deep into our depth chart and pull up guys and go from there. The message was just keep it moving, trust in our guys and keep our ball possessions long."

The teams were tied 2-2 after the first quarter. But the Redbirds lost two starting attackers who were both sidelined by lower-body injuries – namely Massimo Thauvette (one goal) in the second quarter and all-conference sniper Dylan James (3 assists) early in the third quarter – and the Gryphons appeared to be in control with a 5-3 lead at halftime.

The second half was a different story, however, as McGill outscored Guelph 6-3.

"After the injury to James, we decided to go on defence and we played two defensive sets," said McGill head coach Nicolas Soubry. "And once we got the ball back on offence, we called a timeout. The first thing we did was to put (injured all-star defender) Logan Glick back into the game. We basically calmed the guys down and told them that were going to have a different look out there, especially on offence, and that Guelph would not be prepared for that. Let's go out, trust each other and put everything towards winning. Guelph didn't know what to do without DJ (James) in the game and Birrell just turned it up a level."

The Redbirds tallied three consecutive goals in the third quarter to take a 6-5 advantage with 4:30 left in the period. Guelph appeared to have stopped the bleeding with a pair to hold a 7-6 edge heading into the final frame.

Down the stretch, Burrill added his fifth and sixth markers, sandwiched around a Gryphons goal to knot the score at 8-8 with 7:12 remaining in regulation time.

With overtime looming, Cree then fired the go-ahead goal, unassisted, and his troops played a nail-biting shutdown defence as the final minutes ticked away. The Gryphons had a chance to force an extra period in the final five seconds but McGill goaltender Joseph Boehm, a fifth-year senior from Waterloo, Ont., came up with a big stop on sniper Robbie Baxter to finish with 11 saves on 19 shots.

"In the fourth quarter, we decided to switch up to a zone defence and I think that Guelph was confused by that," Soubrey noted. "That zone was put in by our assistant coach Stone Jacobs and our guys were very well-prepared to run that. Guelph scored only one goal on that zone but that was because of a mistake that we made. We usually play a man-on-man defence and zone is rarely seen in a game. But we have practiced it a lot and with our injuries, we decided to implement that in the fourth quarter."

Also scoring for McGill was John Miraglia, a sophomore midfielder from Memphis, Tenn., who extended his goal-scoring streak to 12 games when he put the Redbirds ahead 7-5 with just under five minutes remaining in the third stanza.

Guelph was led by Baxter with a hat-trick, in addition to Liam Dietsch (2), Liam Aston (2) and Ethan Lee.

The shots were even at 19-19 and Guelph took seven of nine penalties called in the contest. All but two infractions were assessed in the first half.
 
Gryphons netminder Jacob Hayne was credited with 10 saves on 19 shots and took the loss. Guelph finished its fine campaign with a 9-3 record overall.

McGill's Samuel MacDonald also played a key role, winning 89 per cent of his draws (17 of 19) against Guelph's Kyle Detweiler, who was the West Division all-star faceoff specialist. MacDonald, a native of Guelph, Ont., merited honorable mention after finishing second in the voting for the East Division faceoff specialist.

McGill, which improved to 9-3 overall, including 2-0 in post-season play, advances to a national semifinal against No.2 seeded Carleton. The Ravens, who had a first-round bye, will confront McGill on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The two teams split their season series, with Carleton winning 10-5 at home on Sept. 9, followed by a 9-8 overtime win for McGill at Percival Molson Stadium on Sept. 16.

In Friday's other quarter-final, Brock eliminated host Trent 9-7 and advanced to the semifinal round against idle Western at 4:30 p.m. Sunday's Baggataway Cup final is slated for Sunday at 2 p.m.

REDBIRDS RAP: Birrell's six goals was two shy of the McGill single-game record held by Cameron McGinnis, who tallied eight in a 14-8 victory over Queen's in a sudden-death playoff game at Kingston, Ont., on Oct. 28, 2022. That broke the previous team mark held by Anders Bjella, who scored seven goals in a 15-11 victory over Western during the Baggataway Cup gold medal game in Lennoxville, Que., on Nov. 8, 2015.

BOXSCORE

2023 CUFLA BAGGATAWAY CUP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

All games streamed for free at LacrosseTV via this link. 

Nov. 4
QUARTER-FINALS
McGill 9, Guelph 8
Brock 9, Trent 7
 
Nov. 5
SEMIFINALS
McGill vs Carleton, 1:30 pm
Brock vs Western, 4:30 pm

Nov. 6
BAGGATAWAY CUP FINAL
TBA  vs TBA, 2 pm
 

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca