Hamilton, Ont. - McMaster's men's lacrosse team hosted their home opener against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Wednesday night at Alumni Field. The Marauders were unable to defeat the visiting Hawks, and fell by a score of 13-7.
The opening quarter saw Laurier earn the early 1-0 lead with a goal from Kurtis McMullen (Whitby, Ont.). Two and a half minutes later, McMaster's Ryan Adams (Burlington, Ont.) would score a power play goal and Carter Williams (Scottsdale, AZ) would give the home team the team with a goal assisted by Mitchell Iszkula (Hamilton, Ont.). Before the first was over, Laurier would score two more to take the lead with goals from Dan Hurley and George Jimas (Ajax, Ont.).
The Hawks would score two quick goals in the beginning of the second quarter. Jimas would connect for this second of the game on the power play and Sean Leaver (Barrie, Ont.) would also get on the board. McMaster wouldn't give up that easily though. They would storm back with three goals to tie it up before half time. The first would come from Adams, again on the power play, assisted by Jamie Batten (Caledon, Ont.). With Laurier in more penalty trouble, the Marauders would capitalize on the power play again, this time with Batten scoring and Adams assisting. With just under four minutes left in the half Batten would score his second, assisted by Williams.
McMaster would come out of the half scoring the first two goals, one from Batten on the power play, assisted by Mark Phillips (Kitchener, Ont.), and the other from Iszkula, assisted by Ben Mulholland (Newmarket, Ont.). Despite McMaster's 7-5 lead, the Hawks would find a way to take the lead back with four goals to follow. Goal scorers in the third quarter for Laurier included Jimas, for his third, Drew Barfoot (Wiarton, Ont.), and two from Scott Tremblay (Aurora, Ont.).
The fourth quarter would end McMaster's chances at a win as the Hawks held them scoreless in the final 20 minutes. Nick Beyers (Orangeville, Ont.), Barfoot, Leaver and Tremblay would all score to solidify Laurier's road win against McMaster.
The Marauders host the Western Mustangs on Sunday, September 16 at 2pm on Alumni Field in their next match-up.
