The Varsity Blues men's lacrosse team fell 12-11 to the Laurentian University Voyageurs on Saturday night (Oct. 6) at Varsity Stadium.  

For the second straight game, the Blues were missing three of their top four scorers. But early on it didn't seem to matter as Toronto took a 3-2 lead on goals by Darren Elliott, Jaxin Da Roza and Aiden Guld. 

The Blues continued their dominance in the second quarter, outscoring Laurentian 4-2 on two markers by Jackson Hickey and singles by Elliott and Davis Bottomley; however, a disturbing trend was starting in the first half.  Toronto took five penalties in the half, which led to two of the Laurentian goals.  The Blues led 7-4 at halftime.

In the third quarter alone, the Blues took five penalties and the Voyageurs took advantage, scoring on three of the man-up situations to go along with two even strength goals to outscore Toronto 5-3 in the frame.  Toronto goals were scored by Elliott, Guld and Alex Emerson.  The Blues held a slim 10-9 lead after three quarters.

Toronto took two more penalties in the fourth quarter and Laurentian scored on both opportunities to go along with one even strength goal to take a two goal lead.  Da Roza scored with under a minute to play to make it a one goal game but time ran out before the Blues could score again.

"We should have taken this game," said Varsity Blues head coach Joe Nizich. "We were cruising along then went cold in the second half.  We took a lot of penalties, 12 in total, and it just seemed that we couldn't get any momentum going as we were constantly playing a man short every few minutes. Give Laurentian credit. They scored on eight of their man-up opportunities."

The Blues take on the Western Mustangs next Friday night (Oct. 12) in London. 

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