MONTREAL – Sniper
Zach Bye scored two goals and added a whopping seven assists as top-seeded McGill routed sixth-place Bishop's 19-5 in a sudden-death playoff on Sunday, to qualify for next week's Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship tournament. But his spectacular offensive outburst at Percival Molson Stadium was overshadowed by teammate
Joe Walsh, who became the second goaltender in school history to score a goal.
VIDEO: TWITTER VERSION OF GOALIE GOAL
VIDEO: INSTAGRAM VERSION OF GOALIE GOAL
The result marked McGill's highest offensive outburst ever in the post-season and the most in any game since a 20-4 conquest over Carleton on Oct. 22, 2019.
The Redbirds led 3-1 after the opening quarter and clung to a 4-3 lead midway through the second stanza until the goalie goal heard 'round the world. With the ball deep in the Bishop's zone and the 20-second possession clock about to expire, Gaiters goaltender
Connor Bagnell carried the ball out to midfield and casually lobbed a high forward pass to the right wing. But he failed to see that Walsh had snuck out of the McGill net in anticipation of the long bomb pass. The Redbirds netminder intercepted the ball, sprinted about 10 yards to midfield and fired the ball about 40 yards into the vacated Bishop's net on one bounce. That gave McGill a 5-3 advantage with 6:07 remaining before halftime. He was mobbed by his teammates and Bishop's appeared completely deflated.
It was the second goalie goal in McGill history, following in the wake of a
William Waesche coast-to-coast marker a decade ago against Queen's on Sept. 13, 2014.
"The game really changed after Walsh scored," said McGill head coach
Nicolas Soubry. "That really got everyone on the bench and the field really excited. It provided a lot of energy to our team and we went on a long (scoring) run."
McGill added two more goals in the next few minutes and took a 7-4 lead into halftime. The Redbirds came out energized after the intermission and promptly outscored the visitors 9-0 in the third quarter and then added three more in the final frame for a spectacular run of 12 consecutive goals before the shell-shocked Gaiters replied with one.
The nine goals in the third stanza set a school record for most goals in a quarter, surpassing the eight tallied in the third quarter of an 18-4 win over Concordia on Sept. 1, 2011.
"At halftime, we talked a lot about simplifying things," said Soubry. "We have a lot of talent and as a coaching staff, we really pushed them to thing 'big game' and to get the best out of every play. It really came to a point where its more about just playing (basic) lacrosse. We talked about making the easy play and having a little bit more fun and have it be more natural. And it really paid off for us."
Also overshadowed was a four-goal performance by
Mark Symon and a hat-trick by
Jack Bamford. Teammates
Alex Erbstein,
Joshua Jewell and
Torsten Blodgett each tallied twice. Other McGill marksmen included
Charles Larochelle and
Owen Howard.
Replying for the Gaiters was
Maxwell Chiarella with a pair,
Liam Reynolds,
Logan Forkey and
Alexander Lizotte.
Walsh registered six saves on 10 shots for the win and all the notoriety. He was relieved for the final 15 minutes by freshman 'keeper
Sol Chung, who kicked aside three of four shots.
Bagnell, the beleagured BU netminder, made only two saves on 21 shots and was saddled with the loss.
The Redbirds will now focus on preparations for the upcoming Baggataway Cup championship, in St. Catharines, Ont., Nov. 1-3. Because McGill finished as the top seed in the CUFLA East, with a 10-0 record, they will earn a first-round bye.
The quarter-finals, slated for Friday, Nov. 1, will feature an Ottawa-Western match-up at 4 p.m., followed by a Queen's-Brock meeting at 7 p.m.
The winners of the sudden-death games will play on Saturday. McGill, the CUFLA East Division champion is slated to open against the winner of the Ottawa-Western quarter-final on Saturday at 1 p.m., The other semi will pit Guelph, the West Division title-holder. against the winner of the Queen's-Brock confrontation.
Sunday's championship game is set for a 1 p.m. faceoff. McGill has previously captured two CUFLA titles, in 2012 and 2015.
Tickets are available online.
All Baggataway Cup tournament games will be streamed line on
Lacrosse TV and on the
Brock Badgers TouTube site, with live scoring and stats available on
CUFLA.ca.
SCORING SUMMARY
CUFLA STATS & STANDINGS
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL:
514-983-7012
E-MAIL:
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
