Following a 38-19 victory, this past weekend against the McMaster Marauders, the Golden Hawks men’s Rugby Team has advanced to the Consolidation Final to play for a fifth-place finish in the OUA.
An overall dominating team performance highlighted by Laurier prop, Owen McLean Lavado has the Golden Hawks on a two-game win streak and ensures that they will have a chance at winning the consolidation side of the OUA new playoff structure. Â Â Â Â After a very strong 2018 season, which saw the Golden Hawks win the bronze medal game and finish 3rd place in the OUA, the expectations this season were set high.
However, Laurier started slow this year, losing two games in the first couple of weekends against Trent and Queens.
Blowout wins in the next two games against talented teams in Brock and Western, were thought to have turned the season around for the Hawks.
With a .500 record and sitting at 2-2 through their first four games, the Golden Hawks believed that they would be on the championship side of the bracket.
After the two wins and a bye week, Laurier had control of their playoff destiny, though two crushingly close losses in back to back weeks against Guelph and Waterloo had sealed their fate.
At a final record of 2-4, they finished the regular season fourth place in the West and narrowly missed the medal side of the bracket, meaning they would not be able to compete for a top-three spot.
The Brock Badgers finished with the same amount of points as the Golden Hawks but qualified to the championship side, due to OUA tiebreakers.
On Sunday in Hamilton, the Golden Hawks looked like they did in 2018, as they completely dominated the game from start to finish, having a 19-0 lead heading into halftime and not slowing down after that.
Ian Mcleod’s Laurier side looked dominant on the road, which has been a trend this season, as the Golden Hawks have played much better away from Waterloo.
The Hawks relied on a great performance from third-year sociology major Owen McLean Lavado, who scored a pair of tries, as well as hometown players Matt Fish (Waterloo) and Tyler Farrow (Cambridge) who each added singles, on route to the Golden Hawks doubling up the Marauders 38-19.
Lavado who is in his third year at Laurier from his hometown of Toronto has had a great year for the team and has provided the Hawks with many scoring chances throughout the season.
Lavado was personally awarded for his performance against the Marauders, as he was named Laurier’s male athlete of the week, the first time he has achieved that feat.
The Golden Hawks will finish the 2019 season at home against the RMC Paladins. A team that Laurier has not lost to since 2015.
The Golden Hawks have only won one game at home this year, a few weeks ago when they defeated the Western Mustangs in the first round of the consolidation playoffs.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. this Saturday at University Stadium.
With a win over RMC, Laurier ‘s men side will have earned an OUA top five-finish for a third consecutive season.
