MONTREAL — Midfielder Rufus Frost of Park City, Utah netted a hat-trick as top-seeded McGill cruised to a 13-4 win over sixth-seeded Ottawa in an Eastern Conference sudden-death playoff game, Thursday, to qualify for the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship for the Baggattaway Cup.

The six-team tournament is slated to be played at Oshawa, Ont., Nov. 7-9.

Because McGill finished as the top seed in the CUFLA East — going undefeated with a 12-0 regular-season record — they can avoid the sudden-death quarter-final and have earned a first-round bye straight to the semifinal. The Redmen have reached the Final Four in each of the last four years and have only missed it once (2010) over the past eight tourneys.

McGill, which claimed the coveted Cup in 2012, enters the upcoming championship with a 13-game win streak against CUFLA opponents, dating back to their last post-season loss, a 14-11 upset to Guelph in the gold medal game of last year's championship held at Molson Stadium.

Frost, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound psychology junior who came out of nowhere to post his first-ever three-goal performance, had struck for seven goals in 12 regular season contests.

Nine other players contributed to McGill's scoring effort on Forbes Field, near the University's residences, including Leland de Langley with a pair. Singles went to Anders Bjella, Rhys Burnell, Brian Callahan, Connor Goodwin, Bradley Hofmann, Alexander Linton, Dan Williams and Emile Sassone-Lawless, a sophomore midfielder who added three helpers to lead all scorers with four points.  Joining Frost with three points apiece was Bjella, de Langley and Goodwin.

McGill, which led 3-2 after the opening quarter, 6-2 at the half and 9-2 after three, was flagged for eight of of the 13 penalties called.

Frederick Hartley tallied twice for the Gee-Gees, with singles going to David Plots and Connor Primeau.

Despite their 14-goal effort on Thursday night, McGill head coach Tim Murdoch lauded his team more for their defensive efforts. 

"Amazing defence, sloppy offence," Murdoch said. "We were under pressure and had a lot of penalties. We were almost literally in the penalty box the entire first half. (Goaltender) William Waesche stood on his head, he was unbelievable only letting in two goals in three quarters. Our offence just wasn't shooting well."

Waesche, an arts sophomore from Greenwich, Conn., allowed just two goals in 60 minutes of action before James Spagnuolo came in for the final 20-minute period. Spagnuolo, a senior from Burnaby, B.C., also allowed two markers. Murdoch explained that he took advantage of a rare opportunity to change goalies while leading in a playoff game to give Spagnuolo a bit of playing time in a playoff context as his team was sitting on a comfortable lead heading into the fourth quarter.

"We have a ton of confidence in him," Murdoch said of Spagnuolo. "He's a senior and (even though) Waesche had played extremely well — we just thought we'd change it up a little towards the end of the game. At that point, we were up by seven goals and confident heading into the fourth."

The Redmen get almost two weeks off to prepare for the Baggataway Cup championship, which is scheduled to be held at the Civic Recreation Complex in Oshawa. Two quarter-finals are slated for Nov. 7, with semifinals and the championship game to follow on Nov. 8 and 9, respectively.  If the favourites all win their playoff round to qualify, McGill would confront the winner of the Western-Queen's game in the semi.

In the meantime, the McGill bench boss is headed state-side to do some recruiting in Maryland. "Recruiting never stops and we need to maintain our edge," said Murdoch, whose current 36-man roster features 19 Americans.

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT:
Earl Zukerman or Nick Frost
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012


SCORING SUMMARY
Ottawa 4 @ McGill 13
Date: Thursday October 30, 2014 @ 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Location: McGill University - Forbes Field
 

Goals by Quarter
TEAM	1	2	3	4			FINAL
Ottawa	2	0	0	2			4
McGill	3	3	3	4			13

1st Quarter Scoring Summary

TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
18:02	McGill	4 Emile Sassone-Lawless Assisted by: 1 de Langley
9:55	Ottawa	5 David Plots (Power Play) Assisted by: 9 Gagnon-Dolbec
7:45	McGill	10 Rufus Frost Assisted by: 19 Bjella
4:53	Ottawa	4 Frederick Hartley (Power Play) Assisted by: 9 Gagnon-Dolbec
0:33	McGill	22 Alex Linton Unassisted

2nd Quarter

TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
15:11	McGill	19 Anders Bjella Assisted by: 4 Sassone-Lawless
11:38	McGill	10 Rufus Frost Assisted by: 5 Rohrbach (C)
10:25	McGill	14 Connor Goodwin (C) Assisted by: 4 Sassone-Lawless

3rd Quarter

TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
8:45	McGill	1 Leland de Langley Assisted by: 14 Goodwin (C)
2:25	McGill	55 Dan Williams Assisted by: 5 Rohrbach (C)
0:35	McGill	1 Leland de Langley Unassisted

4th Quarter

TIME	TEAM	SCORING DETAIL
18:53	McGill	28 Bradley Hofmann Assisted by: 14 Goodwin (C)
16:33	McGill	88 Rhys Burnell Assisted by: 4 Sassone-Lawless
9:50	Ottawa	12 Connor Primeau Unassisted
6:40	McGill	70 Cal Callahan Unassisted
2:07	Ottawa	4 Frederick Hartley Assisted by: 27 Dewar
0:34	McGill	10 Rufus Frost Assisted by: 19 Bjella

1st Quarter Penalty Summary

TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
15:48	McGill	55 Williams Personal 1 minutes
15:48	Ottawa	12 Primeau Personal 1 minutes
10:25	McGill	21 Rakoczy (C) Personal 1 minutes
5:15	McGill	34 Stewart (C) Personal 1 minutes
0:00	McGill	8 Bradley Illegal Stick 3 minutes

2nd Quarter
No penalties

3rd Quarter

TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
18:20	Ottawa	77 Snider (Capt.) Technical 0.5 minutes
15:40	McGill	14 Goodwin (C) Personal 1 minutes
15:40	McGill	5 Rohrbach (C) Technical 0.5 minutes
11:58	Ottawa	17 Low Personal 1 minutes

4th Quarter

TIME	TEAM	PENALTY DETAIL
13:54	McGill	55 Williams Personal 1 minutes
0:45	Ottawa	12 Primeau Personal 1 minutes
0:45	Ottawa	8 Middaugh Personal 1 minutes
0:14	McGill	2 Bouzianis Personal 1 minutes

 


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CUFLA BAGGATAWAY CHAMPIONS:
2013	Guelph
2012	McGill
2011	Bishop's
2010	McMaster
2009	Brock
2008	Guelph
2007	Brock
2006	Brock
2005	Brock
2004	Brock
2003	Brock
2002	Brock
2001	Western
2000	Guelph
1999	Brock
1998	Brock
1997	Brock
1996	Brock
1995	Guelph
1994	Brock
1993	Brock
1992	Brock
1991	Brock
1990	Brock
1989	Brock
1988	Western
1987	McMaster
1986	Brock
1985	Western
MOST CHAMPIONSHIPS WON:
18	Brock
4	Guelph
3	Western
2	McMaster
1	Bishop's
1	McGill

 

CUFLA SUDDEN-DEATH DIVISION PLAYOFFS
(Oct. 30 - Nov. 2, 2014)

(Games played at home field of highest seed)

Oct. 30: East #6 Ottawa (4) at East #1 McGill (14)
Nov. 1: West #5 Laurentian at West #2 Western, 2 pm
Nov. 1: East #4 Carleton at East #3 Queen's, 6 pm
Nov. 1: East #5 Trent at East #2 Bishop's, 7:30 pm
Nov. 2: West #4 Toronto at West #3 Guelph, 1 pm
Nov. 2: West #6 McMaster at West #1 Brock, 2 pm


 

CUFLA FINAL SIX CHAMPIOSNHIP
(Nov. 7-9, 2014)

Quarter-finals (Friday, Nov. 7)

• 6 PM: East #2 highest remaining seed vs West #3 highest remaining seed*
• 9 PM: West #2 highest remaining seed vs East #3 highest remaining seed*

Semifinals (Saturday, Nov. 8)

• 12 noon: Brock vs Quarter-final-1 winner*
• 3 PM: McGill vs Quarter-final-2 winner*

Championship (Sunday, Nov. 9)

• 1:30 PM: Semifinal winners

*schedule subject to change