The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's lacrosse team played two games at home this weekend (Sept. 30, Oct. 1) at Varsity Stadium, falling 11-7 to the Guelph Gryphons and 16-6 to the Western Mustangs.
Saturday, September 30 was a game to determine third place in the CUFLA West Division as the Guelph Gryphons came in with an identical 3-2 record as Toronto.
Guelph scored the first four goals of the games before the Blues scored on a power play by first-year attack Darren Elliott with an assist from offensive stalwartJason Barnable. The first quarter ended 5-1 Guelph. The Gryphons continued in the second quarter with five more goals to take a 10-1 lead at the half. Only one goal was scored in the third quarter as Guelph went up 11-1 after three. U of T staged a furious comeback in the fourth quarter with six unanswered goals, two by Barnable, and singles each by freshmen Jackson Hickey, Jaxin da Roza, the second of the game by Elliott and Davis Bottomley.
"It seems like almost every game we dig ourselves a hole by making too many turnovers and not winning the loose ball battles, and then we have to expend a lot of energy in an effort to dig ourselves out of the hole. It is not a recipe for success in this league." said Varsity Blues head coach Joe Nizich.
The Blues were back at it on Sunday, October 1 against the second place Western Mustangs.
In this game, Toronto hung tough for the first quarter with the score only 2-0 in favour of Western after one. U of T scored early in the second quarter on a goal by Bottomley, but Toronto lost focus and allowed seven consecutive goals to go down 9-1 at the half. The Mustangs scored another five goals in the third quarter to only one power play score by Barnable from Jackson Hickey, making it a 14-2 lead after three. The Blues mounted what seems to be their usual fourth quarter rally, outscoring Western 4-2 to end the game 16-6 in favour of the Mustangs. The fourth quarter Toronto goals were scored by Jaxin da Roza, Barnable and two by Elliot.
"I thought the defense played really well for most of the game but we gave up too many turnovers again in a short period of time. It is hard to keep a prolific scoring team like Western off the board when you keep giving the ball back to them. It's good to see the freshmen scoring though, it bodes well for the future." said Coach Nizich.
The Blues travel to McMaster on Friday, October 6 looking to beat the Marauders for the second time this year and square their record at 4-4. Action is set for 8 p.m.
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