Western, Trent cruise to semifinal stage at OUA Lacrosse Championship

HAMILTON, Ont. - Winning easily in the night session, the event's two no. 1 seeds, the Western Mustangs and Trent Excalibur advanced to Saturday's semi-finals without incident. The five-time defending OUA champions, the Mustangs coasted through a surprise meeting with the host Marauders en route to a 24-5 victory, while Trent dispatched Guelph 18-2. 

Pacing the Mustangs through their offensive explosion on the rain-drenched turf of Alumni Field, Megan Wilkins had a game to remember Friday. She scored four goals inside the first 10 minutes of the contest against Mac, and ended the evening with seven to go along with one assist. 

Her teammates Amy Rawlings and Hayley Liske added four and three goals respectively, as Western boasted 10 different goal scorers in the win.

Adding to an impressive performance in the first contest of the day, Mac's Olivia Langdon had a hat trick of her own in consolation. 

Fresh from an undefeated regular season, the Trent Excalibur looked in fine form Friday, led by the duo of Allie Ogilvie and Leah Michel, who each boasted four goals against the Gryphons. 

After putting 13 goals past their first opponents of the day, Guelph was stymied by Trent's defensive work in the night session, managing to strike just twice. 

Badgers and Golden Hawks outlast quality opposition

Joining the Mustangs and Excalibur in the semi-finals are the Brock Badgers and Laurier Golden Hawks, who navigated tough opening-day match ups against the Toronto Varsity Blues and Queen's Gaels respectively. 

There was nothing to choose between the Badgers and Blues at the half of the day's third game, with the teams knotted at 6-6 after hat tricks from Brock's Kathryn Simpson and Toronto's Zoe Chad. But goals from Eryn Brown and Sarah Simpson vaulted the Badgers into a lead early in the second, and they would not look back, sealing a 10-8 win and a spot in medal rounds. 

Laurier, meanwhile, used a late surge in the first half to build a 7-5 lead at the break over Queen's, and had to battle to maintain their thin edge for the remainder of the game. The Golden Hawks seemed to have given themselves ample breathing room at 10-7, before a pair of quick goals brought the Gaels back within one with eight minutes to play. 

Taylor Miller's goal in the final five minutes went some way toward easing tensions, before Sarah Utting struck one final time for Queen's to create a frantic final two minutes before the final whistle blew for 11-10. 

Marauders, Gryphons split 

Playing the first two games of the day, for the right to challenge the top seeds, the host McMaster Marauders and the Guelph Gryphons battled past the UOIT Ridgebacks and York Lions to earn a split Friday. 

For McMaster, the 5-3 triumph was the team's first win of 2016, powered by the duo of Langdon and Meagan Capati, who each had a pair of goals. 

Meanwhile, the Gryphons bulldozed the Lions in Game 2, led by a five-goal performance from Susanna Coss. Handling York 13-3, Guelph will now face the Toronto Varsity Blues in Saturday's third contest.

DAY 1 RESULTS 

Game 1: McMaster def. UOIT 5-3

Game 2: Guelph def. York 13-3

Game 3: Brock def. Toronto 10-8

Game 4: Laurier def. Queen's 11-10

Game 5: Western def. McMaster 24-5

Game 6: Trent def. Guelph 18-2

DAY 2 SCHEDULE 

Game 7: York vs. UOIT (10:00 am)

Game 8: Queen's vs. McMaster (11:45 am)

Game 9: Toronto vs. Guelph (1:30 pm)

Semi-final 1: Trent vs. Brock (3:15 pm)

Semi-final 2: Western vs. Laurier (5:00 pm