Barry MillerLONDON, ON — As I embarked on the team bus heading out to London, Ontario, for the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association’s (CUFLA) championship weekend, I couldn’t help but notice the smiles on the faces of each Redmen player I encountered. Spirits were high as the bus left Montreal for what would be a 10-hour ride to downtown London.
“You have what it takes to be champions.”
This was repeated countless times by Head Coach Tim Murdoch throughout Friday and Saturday, before McGill’s semifinal game against the Western conference powerhouse Brock Badgers, who’ve won 18 of 26 total CUFLA championships. The players believed him, the assistant coaches believed him, and the parents believed him as the team prepared on Saturday morning for the Badgers.
“It’s awfully hard to win a championship. Extremely hard. I don’t care on what level. It takes a huge sacrifice by the whole team,” said Murdoch while the team travelled to City Wide Field for their semifinal matchup. “You need luck, you need commitment, you need great coaches, you need people behind you, and you need your parents behind you. You have all kinds of factors that go into it. And you have what it takes to be champions.”
Murdoch’s words were still resounding in my head as the final whistle sounded, marking the end of McGill’s dream season with an upset 13-11 loss to Brock. The game was one of the most exciting the Redmen have played all season, with McGill never trailing by more than two, tying at one, two, three, five, six, eight, nine, ten, and 11 before Brock scored three unanswered goals and left the field with the win. All-star performances from Alex Rohrbach, who dominated the opposition with a hat trick and three assists, Nolan Prinzen, who won the award for team MVP of the game for his three timely goals, and captain Mike Ting, who added two spectacular goals and strong offensive zone play, were some of the bright spots for the Redmen. Despite the loss, goaltender Riley McGillis also played superbly, making some extraordinary saves to keep his team in the game, especially in the fourth quarter.
Yet a few flaws in the Redmen’s game became apparent during this semifinal matchup, none as blatant as McGill’s inability to retrieve loose ground balls. “I guess I didn’t anticipate that they would dominate the ground balls so much as they did,” Murdoch admitted. “That was probably the one factor that allowed them to stay with us, and then eventually beat us.” The defence also struggled mightily on occasion, and they had great difficulty clearing the ball out of their zone because of the constant pressure Brock’s offence put on each defenceman. J.J. Miller, the team’s faceoff expert, also lost an unusually high number of draws in the first half (he finished with less than his usual astounding win percentage of 80), although he redeemed himself in the second half by not only winning most of his faceoffs, but by scoring a great goal on a one-man effort.
McGill’s loss came as a surprise to everyone on the team, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on bringing the first Bagattaway Cup to McGill. Even Brock’s captain remarked to McGill captain Ryan Besse that McGill was easily the best team they played all year. The fact that bitter arch-rival Bishop’s won the championship this year only hardens the Redmen’s resolve to come back better next year and win it all. “We’re losing five key guys [during the offseason], but we have 30 guys returning, which is the greatest group of returning guys we’ve ever had,” Murdoch explained. “Not winning the championship just fuels the drive for next season.”
There is no doubt that next season will be another great one for McGill lacrosse. The team should dwell on the past only long enough to build for the future, and that they should let Coach Murdoch’s words echo continuously in their heads: “You have what it takes to be champions.”
