MONTREAL -- Freshman Liam MacDonald netted a hat-trick as McGill rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Trent Excalibur 9-5 in a first-place showdown, Sunday, to close out regular-season play in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association.

The much-anticipated game, played at Forbes Field on the McGill campus, spoiled Trent's bid for a perfect season and knocked them off their pedestal atop the CUFLA East Division. Both teams posted a stellar 11-1 record, but McGill finished on top, owning the tie-breaker on goal-differential in their head-to-head meetings. The Excalibur had edged McGill 10-9 in their only other rendez-vous, way back on Sept. 17 in Peterborough, Ont.

Trent, which took an early 2-0 lead in Sunday's finale, had a 3-2 edge after the opening quarter. But McGill won the second stanza 3-2 to send the rivals into halftime tied at 5-5. The Redmen showed their meddle in the second half, however, outscoring Trent 2-0 in each of the final two periods.

Maxime Murdoch, son of head coach Tim Murdoch, sparked the second-half explosion with the winning tally and the Redmen defence blanked Trent the rest of the way.

Due to a personal family matter, the Murdoch clan had missed Saturday's 20-4 victory at Queen's and were not expected back in time for the all-important showdown with Trent. But father and son made it back to Montreal by halftime and the younger Murdoch suited up and scored the winning goal just three minutes into the third quarter.

"I didn't see the first half but briefly addressed the team at the break," said Coach Murdoch. "I told them we all knew that our team can play at a higher level at any time. Then Nick Soubry, our assistant coach who handles the defence, issued a challenge to shut them out and our guys went out and did just that. That's quite an achievement as Trent was the highest scoring team in our division."

McGill defender Bradley Hofmann was a big part of that and shut down Trent scoring leader Jeff Fernandes, who tallied 25 goals and 25 assists in 12 games. He was kept off the scoresheet.

"It was a weird surreal experience being away from the team and to see how well they performed without me," confided the coach who had been behind the bench for 235 consecutive games over his 14 years as bench boss. "It's a testament to our volunteer coaching staff. We're a strong group and if somebody's not available, someone else fills in, whether that's a coach or player."

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Emile Sassone-Lawless and Goose Bolton, with two apiece, plus one from Spencer Bromley.

All-conference goaltender William Waesche saved 11 of 16 shots for the win. Trent's Kyle Holton was saddled with the loss. He was credited with 10 saves on 19 shots.

Garrett Eddy and Cam Garlin each tallied twice for the Excalibur and Dany Michel netted their other goal.

Only one penalty was called on each side in the first half but emotions heated up and Trent took eight out of 11 penalties in the second half. Seven of the infractions were called in the final 71 seconds of the contest when Trent lost their cool.

"We have a young team but are jelling at the right time, as we approach playoffs," noted Murdoch. "That's very inspirational to see these guys pull together at the end of the season as we were kind of discombobulated over the first few weeks when everyone was settling into school, housing and mid-term exams. Our group is tight and the timing couldn't be better. It was a very uplifting win. We've had a lot of wins this season but none were really in a close game, so to end the season on that high note, bodes well for playoffs."

McGill (11-1) will now host sixth-place Ottawa (3-9) in a sudden-death quarter-final on Saturday, Oct. 29, 4 p.m. at Forbes Field. A win for McGill earns a first-round bye at the CUFLA Final Six national championship, hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., Nov. 4-6. If  Ottawa (3-9) were to upset the Redmen, the lower-seeded Gee-Gees would then play against the second-highest seeded team in the West.

LINK TO COMPLETE SCORING SUMMARY

2016 CUFLA EAST DIVISION FINAL STANDINGS
 

TEAM	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
McGill	12	11	1	149	74	22
Trent	12	11	1	151	83	22
Bishop's	12	7	5	146	128	14
Queen's	12	5	7	110	140	10
Nipissing	12	4	8	123	149	8
Ottawa	12	3	9	102	149	6
Carleton	12	1	11	84	142	2