The McMaster men’s soccer team, currently ranked No.5 in the CIS top-ten, defeated the visiting Guelph Gryphons 2-0 on Sunday afternoon to move into the OUA semi-finals.

On a cold and rainy day at Ron Joyce Stadium, the Marauders carried the early play and just missed taking the lead in the 7^th minute on a shot from Ryan Garnett that just skipped past the goal post. 

In the 21^st minute, McMaster was mounting an attack and a long ball into the box resulted in the Gryphons being called for a hand-ball, giving the Maroon a penalty kick.  Midfielder David Serafini stepped up to the spot and buried the penalty to give McMaster the 1-0 lead.  Only about a minute later, Mac’s Mark Reilly had a great chance but he also saw his shot beat the Guelph keeper, but roll just wide.

The 1-0 Marauder advantage stood up until the end of the half.

The second half saw Guelph come out with an aggressive attack, as the Gryphons were fighting to keep their season going, and play started to get chippy.  Midfielder Patterson Farrell had a great chance in close, but Guelph‘s Chad Paparoni made the save to keep the deficit at one. 

Finally in the 66^th minute, Farrell sent Gersi Xhuti in alone on the right side and his left-foot shot skipped past Paparoni to give McMaster a two-goal cushion.  Xhuti had come on as a substitute in the second half and showed some fresh legs as he made his run down the right side to receive the pass from Farrell.

Down by two, Guelph tried to push forward but only generated minimal offense.  The Gryphons had one good chance off a late corner kick but missed the net, and McMaster keeper Angelo Cavalluzzo stood tall for the rest of the game to earn the shut-out.

The Marauders will now advance to the OUA final-four on November 3 & 4 at being hosted byYork.   McMaster will face Queen's in one semi-final, while York plays Carleton in the other. Check marauders.ca to get full information on game times amd locations.