Lindenwood Captures Third Straight Division III Club Title 16-11 Over NYU

Sharn Appel

VILLANOVA, Pa. --  Tournament Most Valuable Player Sharn Appel (So., Harare, Zimbabwe) scored five goals to lead No. 8 nationally ranked Lindenwood University to a historic third consecutive championship with a 16-11 win over New York University in the title game of the 2008 Division III Collegiate Club championship at Villanova University.

In the history of the championship, no team had captured three straight titles before Lindenwood accomplished the feat this year after holding off host Wesleyan University (8-6 W) in 2006 and downing Grinnell College (12-4 W) last year in St. Louis.

Further, Appel earned his second MVP award to join Josh Naumann of Rochester Institute of Technology (2001, 2002) as the only players to earn two Division III Most Valuable Player honors.

The game was a story of halves as New York University led 1-0 and 3-2 in the first half, but was unable to put the Lions down by more than a goal for the first 14 minutes of play.

Tied 6-to-6 at halftime, Appel took over the game for Lindenwood scoring natural goals at 5:10 and 3:40 in addition to an advantage goal at 4:10 of the third period to give the Lions a 9-6 lead.  NYU was unable to close the gap the rest of the way only pulling to within 9-7 on a goal by Chris McClure (Gr., Grimsby, Ontario) at 3:13 of the third period and 10-8 at 2:28 off another shot by McClure. 

Leading 13-10 with 4:04 left in the fourth period, Lindenwood sealed the game courtesy an even-strength goal by Ali Campbell (So., Dunfermline, Scotland) and an exclusion score by Eric Witzel (Jr., Crestwood, Calif.) at the 2:11 mark to go in front by five at 15-10.  The teams traded goals from there with Markus Quinn (Jr., Somers, N.Y.) scoring for NYU at 2:04 and Appel finishing off his five-goal day with another tally at 1:41 for the 16-11 final.

For Lindenwood, Campbell and Marlow Inman (Fr., Cairo, Egypt) netted hat-tricks, while Austin Walsh (So., St. Louis, Mo.) and Witzel tacked on pairs of scores to accompany a single goal by Marko Cubrobinic (Fr., Belgrade, Serbia).

David Myre (Gr., Mercer Island, Wash.) registered three goals for NYU to lead the way for the Bobcats with McClure, as Lourenzo Araujo (Jr., Sao Paolo, Brazil) added two scores and the duo of John Cynn (Fr., Glendale, Calif.) and Quinn tacked on single goals.

In goal, Lindenwood's Aaron Saule (Jr., Overland Park, Kansas) and NYU's Adam Esparza (Sr., Pasadena, Calif.) made 10 and five saves, respectively.

Following the game, the 2008 Division III Collegiate Club All-Tournament Team was named with United States Coast Guard Academy head coach Lt. John Andrechik taking home Coach of the Year honors.

Lindenwood Goals: Sharn Appel (5); Ali Campbell (3); Marlow Inman (3); Austin Walsh (2); Eric Witzel (2); Marko Cubrobinic;

NYU Goals:  Chris McClure (4); David Myre (3); Lourenzo Araujo (2); John Cynn; Markus Quinn

Saves: Lindenwood - Aaron Saule (10); NYU - Adam Esparza (5)

Ejections: Lindenwood - 9; NYU - 5