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Davis & Lawver Net Three as Texas A&M Overcomes Minnesota 12-9 OT in National Collegiate Club Second Round
ATHENS, Ohio -- Matt Davis (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) and Brandon Lawver (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) both recorded hat-tricks as No. 16 ranked Texas A&M University overcame a 6-1 deficit in the first half to edge No. 18 ranked the University of Minnesota 12-9 in overtime in the second round of the National Collegiate Club Championship.
The game was a story of runs as Minnesota built a 5-1 lead through the end of the first period before pushing the margin out to 6-1 with 6:41 left in the second period. Texas A&M trimmed the lead to 6-3 before halftime as Davis and Wesley Fikes (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) netted exclusion goals at the 6:13 and 3:34 marks, respectively.
Texas A&M continued to slice away at the lead pulling to within 6-4 to open the third period, falling behind 8-4 with 3:24 left in the third and rallying back to trail 8-6 entering the fourth period.
Minnesota appeared to put the game away 47 seconds into the fourth period as Jake Wollensack (Gr., Milwaukee, Wisc.) scored to put the Gophers in front 9-6, but the Aggies would not die as Brian Carey (So., Houston, Texas) punched in scores at 4:04 and 3:08 to pull Texas A&M to within 9-8.
Needing a last second score to force overtime and have a chance at victory, the Aggies tied the score at nine-all as Kyle Mendez (Sr., Houston, Texas) worked the ball around the outside and unleashed a shot which eluded Gophers' goalie Matt Dahlberg (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) to force two three-minute periods of overtime.
In the extra frames, the Aggies dominated play as Lawver completed his hat-trick with 1:48 left in the first OT period for the eventual game-winner. Davis finished off his hat-trick with 1:24 left in the second overtime period for an insurance goal and Jake Smith (Sr., Dallas, Texas) registerd an exclusion goal with 28 seconds left on the clock for the 12-9 final.
Dahlberg finished with eight saves for Minnesota, while John Fitzgerald (Jr., Singapore City, Singapore) tallied five saves for Texas A&M.
Courtesy the win, Texas A&M advances to face the winner of a Columbia University-Ohio University second round game at 4:00 p.m. on November 15, while Minnesota will next be in action at 1:40 p.m. on November 15 versus the loser of the Columbia-Ohio game. The winner of the Minnesota-Columbia/Ohio game will finish in a tie for 13th in the final tournament standings, while the loser ties for 15th place.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ET | Final |
| Texas A&M University | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| University of Minnesota | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
Minnesota Goals: David Brajkovic (2); David Hamming (2); John Hoedeman (2); Cyrus Jamnejad; Gannon Stromquist-Levoi; Jake Wollensack
Texas A&M Goals: Matt Davis (3); Brandon Lawver (3); Brian Coyle (2); Kyle Mendez; Jake Smith; Brian Carey; Wesley Fikes
Saves: Minnesota - Matt Dahlberg (8) ; Texas A&M - John Fitzgerald (7)
Ejections: Minnesota - 7 ; Texas A&M - 5
Sprints: Minnesota - 3 (1st, 2nd & 6th) ; Texas A&M - 3 (3rd, 4th & 5th)
