HAMILTON, Ont. - After an opening round bye, the Marauders are set to return to the field Saturday afternoon in an OUA quarterfinal contest. McMaster will host the Guelph Gryphons at 1pm on Saturday where one team will earn a berth to the semi-final and the other will close out the season. In a game with everything on the line, the Marauders will look to impress in front of a home crowd and extend their win streak to four.
   
McMaster and Guelph have battled it out three times since 2019, including two match-ups earlier this year. The Marauders and Gryphons played to a 1-1 draw on September 9th before Guelph stole a 2-0 final from McMaster two days later. The three most recent contests between the squads have been decided by two goals or less. McMaster will search for its first win over Guelph since 2018 and there is no better time than now to change the narrative. The Marauders finished the regular season with 25 points and an 8-3-1 record to lock in the #2 seed in the OUA West while the Gryphons ended as the #3 seed, just one point back of the Marauders with a 6-1-5 record.

The maroon and grey dropped the Laurier Golden Hawks in the regular season finale by a 4-1 scoreline. Miles Green (Toronto, Ont.) totaled two goals on the day while Sachin Sargeant (Lynden, Ont.) and Justin Baker (Hamilton, Ont.) each added a single in the win.

The winner of Saturday's match-up will play in an OUA semi-final and face one of the top teams in the East later this week.
 

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Last Time Out

When the Marauders and Gryphons met in September for the first time, McMaster started the game quick and found the back of the net just 24 minutes into the contest. Ed Bryan Florent (Orleans, Ont.) recorded the goal for the Marauders to give the maroon and grey an early lead. The Marauders outshot the Gryphons 4-3 in the opening 45 minutes of play. Just after the halftime break, Guelph tied the game at one. Despite a few final opportunities for McMaster in the final two minutes of the contest, the scoreline remained, each team recording a point in the contest.

Two days later, McMaster couldn't carry over the momentum. The Marauders dominated the first half, more than doubling up on the Gryphons in the shot category - 12-5 - while putting many of those shots on goal. Despite the opportunities, the game remained scoreless into the halftime break. The game winner for Guelph came in the 47th minute and, 30 minutes later, the Gryphons scored the insurance goal from the penalty spot to put the game away. 
   

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Game Coverage

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