ST/ CATHARINES, ONT. – Christopher Da Silva scored twice, including the game-winner with three seconds remaining in quadruple overtime as Western rallied from an early three-goal deficit to stun undefeated McGill 12-11 in a Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association's Baggataway Cup sudden-death semifinal, Saturday.
The defending Cup champion Mustangs, who entered the tourney with a 7-3 record, have now won three post-season contests and punched their ticket to Sunday's gold medal game, where they will confront Queen's, which also upset undefeated Guelph 11-8 in the other semifinal.
Perhaps it was a case of counting the chickens before they were hatched but most experts were anticipating a gold medal game featuring a matchup of undefeated teams.
Da Silva displayed an amazing solo effort, circling behind the net before firing a shot past McGill goaltender
Joe Walsh just as a fifth overtime period loomed large – to send the Mustangs to the championship final for the second straight year.
"It was a very tough loss," said McGill head coach
Nicolas Soubry. "It was crazy game with some unlucky breaks. On one particular play that I recall, (attackman)
Jack Bamford was wide open for a great scoring chance. He took a shot at the open side of the net. One of the Western players dove across to make the block and the ball deflected off his helmet."
Western's Jacob Hickey scored seven goals and added an assist to pace the Mustangs, a day after he tallied six markers in Friday's quarter-final
Zach Bye replied with five goals in a losing cause for McGill, including his final marker that put McGill ahead 11-10 with 3:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Hickey tied the contest a minute later to force the first of what proved to be four extra three-minute periods..After three scoreless extra periods, Da Silva proved to be the hero in the dying seconds of the fourth.
Western, which outshot McGill 41-36, fell behind 3-0 before the games was 12 old. However, they narrowed the deficit to 3-2 after the first period. McGill continued ito produce offensively and led 7-5 at halftime. But the Mustangs awoke after the intermission and held a slim 9-8 lead heading into the final stanza. McGill took the fourth quarter 3-2.
Mustangs goaltender
Fischer Stoltz saved 25 for the win. Walsh made 29 saves in a losing cause for the Redbirds. Goth goalies were selected as players of the game.
McGill, which posted a 10-0 regular season record, finished at 11-2 overall, including an exhibition loss to the NCAA's Vermont Catamounts..
The Redbirds are expected to lose a dozen players to graduation, a group that includes
Owen Howard,
Henry Fowler,
Ryan Badour,
John Meeks,
Logan Glick,
Luke Dawick,
Samuel MacDonald,
Olivier Pomerleau,
Jack Buzby,
Alex Erbstein,
Sebastien Elie and
Joe Walsh.
Sunday's final starts at 1 p.m. on Nov. 3 and can be seen on the
Brock TV YouTube channel and
Lacrosse TV.
Seven McGill players earned CUFLA All-Rookie honours and were slated to play in the All-Rookie Game on Saturday night. The McGillian laureates included faceoff specialist
Luke Nickel, goaltender
Sol Chung, attackman
Zach Bye, defenders
Harry Callaghan and
Bryce Hogan, along with midfielders
Charles Larochelle and
Torsten Blodgett.
"I wish to thank all of our graduating guys who arrived here during COVID when we were unable to play for two seasons and they took the program from nothing to an undefeated regular season," said Coach Soubry. "The character and toughness they brought to our culture will never be forgotten."
SCORING SUMMARY
CUFLA STATS & STANDINGS
| 2024 CUFLA ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM |
|
|
|
|
| GOALKEEPER |
Quinton Greenfield |
Queen's |
| DEFENDER |
Kaz Nizielski |
Western |
| DEFENDER |
Ty Wheatley |
Queen's |
| DEFENDER |
Michael Wilson |
Western |
| LONG-STICK MIDFIELDER |
Griffin Hill |
Queen's |
| SHORT-STICK DEF. MIDFIELDER |
Sam Van Der Zalm |
Western |
| FACEOFF SPECIALIST |
Hawkeye Hamilton |
Queen's |
| ATTACKER |
Noah Millsap |
Queen's |
| ATTACKER |
Liam Ashton |
Guelph |
| ATTACKER |
Zach Bye |
McGill |
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL:
514-983-7012
E-MAIL:
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
