M&M: McClure & Myre Help NYU Manage Monmouth 17-12 in Division III Club Tournament Opening Round

David Myre

VILLANOVA, Pa. --  New York University's David Myre (Gr., Mercer Island, Wash.) and Chris McClure (Gr., Grimsby, Ontario) both tallied seven goals to share Player of the Game honors as the Bobcats built a 7-1 lead in the first period and held onto down Monmouth College 17-12 in the opening round of the 2008 Division III National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Villanova University.

The win places the Bobcats in a 7:45 p.m. semifinal showdown with the winner of a United States Coast Guard Academy versus Wesleyan University first round game.  Monmouth will take on the loser of the Coast Guard-Wesleyan game at 6:30 in hopes of earning a spot in the fifth place game on Sunday morning.

Against Monmouth, NYU came out firing on all-cylinders scoring 49 seconds into the contest off a shot by Myre on an advantage opportunity.  Myre struck again with 5:33 left in the period as he ripped a penalty shot into the cage for a 2-0 lead.

Leading 5-0 with 2:34 to play in the period, Myre completed a hat-trick with an even-strength marker to put the Bobcats ahead 6-0.  Monmouth's Jeff Skalon (Fr., Shamburg, Ill.) shattered the shutout attempt 14 seconds later with his team's first goal of the day, but Myre finished the period with four scores as he beat Crab People goalie Frank Wasielewski (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) on an advantage opportunity for a 7-1 lead entering the second period.

Monmouth attempted to rally back to open the second period as Steve Collins (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) buried a penalty shot and Skalon stuck home an even-strength goal to pull to within 7-3, but NYU answered with a pair of goals by McClure and a marker by Chris Barber (Sr., Fogelsville, Pa.) to push the lead back out to seven goals at 10-3 with 1:02 left in the first half.  The Crab People tacked on another score before the horn as Eric Pavlacka (Sr., Mokena, Ill.) beat NYU goalie Adam Esparza (Sr., Pasadena, Calif.) to put Monmouth down 10-4 at the break.

The teams traded goals in the third period and through the first seven minutes of the fourth period before Collins scored on an exclusion chance with 3:06 left on the game clock for the 17-12 final.

The keys to the game were the play of McClure and Myre in tallying 14 goals and the quick start of the Bobcats to put the Crab People down early and force a comeback bid.

In goal, Wasielewski blocked down six shots for Monmouth, while Esparza stopped five shots in NYU's winning effort.

Monmouth Goals: Joe Moran (4); Steve Collins (3); Jeff Skalon (3); Eric Pavlacka; Kevin Satler 

NYU Goals: David Myre (7); Chris McClure (7); Morgan Alcalay; Chris Barber; Markus Quinn

Saves: Monmouth - Frank Wasielewski (6); NYU - Adam Esparza (5)

Ejections: Monmouth - 10; NYU - 14