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Steve Beirness

The McGill Redmen were not about to let a somewhat rocky season come to an end on Saturday night. Playing against the Bishop's Gaiters in a Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association Eastern Conference quarterfinal at Forbes Field, the Redmen jumped out to an early 4-0 lead that they never relinquished, en route to an unexpectedly lopsided 13-7 win. With the victory, the Redmen are one of only four teams who will play for the National Championship in next weekend's CUFLA Bagattaway Cup in Hamilton, Ont.

"I think if we play like we did tonight, we can win [the national championship]," said McGill Head Coach Tim Murdoch. "It comes down to execution. Across Canada it's very close, a lot of one-goal games, but for us to come out tonight and beat a very good Bishop's squad by six goals is an excellent foundation for next weekend."

The quarterfinal match-up was expected to be much closer, considering the teams split the season series. In early September, Bishop's defeated McGill 11-9, but the Redmen answered back with a closely contested 7-6 victory a month later.

"Bishop's is a team that has always given us some problems," said Murdoch. "It's always been close when we play but we beat them soundly, so I'm feeling very good about the win and our squad."

McGill controlled the game from the opening face-off, dominated ball possession for large stretches of the first half, and had a 9-3 lead by halftime. Attackman Jacob Safarik opened the scoring for the home side only minutes into the game when he received a pass from behind the net and put a quick shot past Bishop's goaltender Brennan Durovick. McGill scored three more goals before the Gaiters finally answered back with two goals of their own, making it 5-2 at the end of the first quarter. But a three-goal deficit would be as close as Bishop's would get, despite picking up their game in the second half and making the match more competitive.

"It was a great game for us tonight," said McGill attackman Scott Bailey, who recorded a hat-trick in the victory. "Bishop's is always a very strong team but we brought a lot forward when it counted. We're just going to have to do pretty much the same thing next week as we did tonight in order to win [the national championship]."

The Redmen had a five-goal lead early in the third quarter when Murdoch called for a stick measurement on Gaiters midfielder Jimmy Southall after he scored a flashy goal to cut the lead to 9-5. After much deliberation, the referees ruled Southall's stick to be illegal, and the goal was disallowed.

Victory seemed certain for the Red 'n' White by the fourth quarter, and the home squad played a safe game until the clock ran out.

After the game, Murdoch was quick to deflect praise.

"I've got to hand it to my coaching staff," said Murdoch. "[Assistant Coach] Sean Steinwald was an All-American at Cornell who retooled our offence. Also, [Assistant Coach] Brendan Simeson, who was our three-time captain, was helping all year. Those two guys have been instrumental in our success this year. "Without them there would have been no way we would've gotten this far."

McGill attackman Nick Moreau matched Bailey's output with a hat-trick of his own, while Safarik and Luke LaCava each had two goals apiece. Will Edwards, Arthur Phillips, and Mike Ting also scored for McGill.

"It was a total team effort, but I'd say the seniors led the charge," said Murdoch. "Guys like Jake Safarik, Arthur Phillips, David Pinckney, and Ben McBeth played so intensely as this [season] is their last chance to play."

McGill will face Brock University in a national semifinal in Hamilton this Friday. The Badgers defeated the McMaster Marauders 9-8 on Sunday in a West quarterfinal, and finished atop the CUFLA West standings with a record of 8-1 this season.