Alex Phillips Scores Six as Grinnell Overcomes Bowdoin College 10-8 in Division III Club Championship Fifth Place Game

Noah Perwin

BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Player of the Game Alex Phillips (So., St. Louis, Mo.) of Grinnell College and Noah Perwin (So., Miami, Fla.) of Bowdoin College both scored six goals, but the Wild Turkeys received a pair of goals from Patrick Thomas (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.) and a solo tally by Max Stephenson (Sr., Fresno, Calif.) to overcome the Polar Bears 10-8 in the fifth place game of the 2009 Men's Division III National Collegiate Club Championship on Bowdoin's campus.

Grinnell never trailed in the game opening up a three-goal lead in the first period as Phillips (5:43, 2:32) and Thomas (2:59) found the back of the cage with the Wild Turkeys' first three shots of the contest.  Bowdoin trimmed the lead back to two with 33 seconds left in the period with a shot from the wing by Keith Heyde (Jr., Wilton, Conn.), but Grinnell countered to keep the lead at three goals (4-1) as Stephenson drove to the cage and deposited the ball with two ticks on the period clock.

The second period was all Bowdoin as Perwin converted a pass from Heyde into the Polar Bears' second goal of the game with 4:58 left in the first half.  Basyl Stuyvesant (Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) closed out the first half scoring by rebounding a missed shot and flipping the ball over the arms of Grinnell goalie Jon Willuhn (Sr., Huntsville, Ala.) to pull Bowdoin to within one at 4-3 by the halftime horn.

Bowdoin tied the game to finish off a three-goal spurt that spanned two periods with 6:37 left in the third period as Perwin tallied a man-up score to even the damage at 4-4.  The Wild Turkeys regained the lead at the 4:42 mark with a man-up goal by Phillips, but the Polar Bears offense and Perwin came through once again as he drove to the cage to complete a hat-trick and retie the game at 5-5.

The pattern continued in the fourth period with Phillips scoring at 6:22 to put Grinnell back in front (6-5), Perwin countering at 4:44 (6-6), Thomas netting his second score at 4:23  (7-6), Perwin racking up his fifth tally at 3:46 (7-7), Phillips cashing in a man-up chance at 3:03 (8-7) and Perwin completing his six-goal performance with an exclusion score at 2:42 (8-8) to bring on the possibility of overtime.

However, Phillips was not done as he ripped a shot above the head and through the straining arms of Bowdoin goalie Alex Edison (Fr., Salem, Ore.) at the 2:23 mark for the eventual game-winner and a brief 9-8 lead.

Slightly over a minute later, Sinan Ozer (Jr., Istanbul, Turkey) concluded the scoring with an exclusion marker at the 1:05 mark for the 10-8 final.

The fifth place finish by Grinnell marks the fourth time the program has placed in the Top Five teams at the Division III Club Championship as the team previously finished second (2007), third (2001), fourth (2003), fifth (2004) and sixth (2002, 2008) in six previous appearances.

For Bowdoin, the 2009 Polar Bears recorded the best-ever finish by the program at the Division III Club Championship as the team finished eighth at the 2003 tournament in the team's only other appearance in the Division III field.

Bowdoin Goals: Noah Perwin (6); Basyl Stuyvesant; Keith Heyde 

Grinnell Goals: Alex Phillips (6); Patrick Thomas (2); Max Stephenso; Sinan Ozer

Saves: Bowdoin - Andrew Swafford (4), Alex Edison (3) ; Grinnell - Jon Willuhn (4)

Exclusions: Bowdoin - 9; Grinnell - 9

Advantage Opportunities: Bowdoin - 1-of-9 ; Grinnell - 3-of-9