PETERBOROUGH, ONT – Rowan Birrell scored four goals and Mark Symon added another hat-trick as McGill outlasted Carleton 10-8 in a national semifinal at the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship tournament at Justin Chiu Stadium, Saturday.
In the process, the Redbirds punched their ticket to Sunday's Baggataway Cup gold medal game, where they will faceoff against Western, which cruised to a 9-1 victory over Brock in Saturday's other semifinal.
Despite taking seven of the nine penalties called, McGill had a 25-20 edge in shots on net. The Redbirds never trailed, opening the scoring and taking a 3-2 lead after one quarter. Then upping the margin to 6-3 at halftime and 9-4 after three. Carleton tallied three times in the final two minutes to win the last quarter 4-1.
"We're playing better team defence than we have all year," said second-year McGill head coach Nicolas Soubry, whose troops have really stepped up their game despite a plethora of ailments to key personnel. "With the injuries, our guys seem to be carrying less of a burden (to feed the key scorer) and playing to their strengths a little bit more. We did give up three goals in the final two minutes and that was (troubling) but time was on our side and we were able to regroup."
Birrell, an 18-year-old biology sophomore from North Vancouver, B.C., scored in each quarter to post his fifth hat-trick of the season. The 6-foot-2, 170-pound attackman, now has a dozen goals in three post-season contests. His offensive output has helped inspire a McGill squad that is rebounding from the loss of all-star Dylan James, the team's scoring leader who suffered a lower-body injury in the third quarter of Friday's quarter-final.
Symon, a 19-year-old economics sophomore from New Canaan, Conn., had a career-best offensive output in what was just his second start of the season.
"He gives us great depth," said Soubrey. "Symon took over for Dylan James and it has paid dividends He's an incredible player, a second-year guy and we're really lucky to have him on our roster."
Faceoff specialist Samuel MacDonald of Guelph, Ont., was named as McGill's player of the game after winning 76 per cent of his draws (16/21). When Carleton narrowed the deficit to two with 50 seconds remaining, MacDonald won the crucial next draw to give McGill possession for the final minute of play. In two games at this tourney, the kinesiology junior has now won 33 of his 40 faceoffs.
"It's almost like having a cheat (sheet) with Sam winning over 75 per cent of his faceoffs," Soubrey offered. "If we make mistakes, they can score goals against us but we never really give up much momentum because we are almost guaranteed to get the ball back with Sam out there to regain possession."
Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Isaiah Cree of Akwesasne, N.Y., with two, and John Miraglia, who has now tallied in 13 consecutive games overall.
Cameron York and Sam Trumble paced the Carleton attack with two goals and three assists apiece. Jacob Garcia also added a pair of goals, with singles going to Michael Murawsky and Issac Laflamme.
McGill goaltender Joseph Boehm registered 12 saves on 20 shots for the win, while Carleton's Thomas Kiazky blocked 15 of 25 shots and took the loss.
Sunday's gold medal contest will mark McGill's sixth appearance in the CUFLA final – the first since 2015 – a title it twice won over Western, a 7-6 overtime decision in 2012 and 15-11 result in 2015. McGill's three losses in the final were all against Guelph (2008, 2013, 2014). McGill is 4-5 lifetime against the Mustangs, who have reached the final on 11 previous occasions, winning seven titles (1985, 1988, 2001, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019).
REDBIRDS RAP: McGill enters its final game of the season with a 10-3 record overall, including a 3-0 in post-season play... To date, the team has registered 13 hat-tricks, led by Rowan Birrell with five... Others to accomplish the feat include Isaiah Cree (4), Dylan James (2), John Miraglia and Mark Symon... McGill's 35-man roster is composed of eight freshmen, 11 sophomores, six juniors and 10 seniors... The geographical breakdown includes 18 Americans and 17 Canadians.
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 10, Carleton 8
Western 9, Brock 1
Nov. 6
BAGGATAWAY CUP FINAL
McGill vs Western, 2 pm
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
