Lipin Scores Seven as No. 3 Florida International Rolls No. 2 Utah 12-8 in National Collegiate Club Quarterfinals

Alex Lipin

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Alexander Lipin (Jr., Moscow, Russia) scored seven goals, including five in the third period to help blow open a 5-4 halftime lead, as No. 3 Florida International University upended No. 2 University of Utah 12-8 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Men's National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Florida.

The victory advances the Golden Panthers into a semifinal showdown with defending National Champion and No. 5-nationally ranked Michigan State University at 5:10 p.m. this evening with a berth in the National Championship game on the line.  Utah falls into the consolation bracket and will meet No. 11 University of Texas, a 7-6 loser to MSU, at 4:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to the fifth place game.

Trailing 3-2 with 3:43 remaining in the second period following a five-meter penalty shot by Danny Bradley (Sr., Salt Lake City, Utah), FIU registered three consecutive scores to pull out to a 5-3 lead.

Chase Vaughan (Sr., Miami, Fla.) started the scoring spree with back-to-back man-up markers at the 3:20 and 1:54 marks before Lipin added his second goal of the game with 1:10 remaining in the first half.  Utah trimmed the margin back to a single score prior to the horn as Bradley tacked on a man-up goal with six seconds left on the clock for a 5-4 game at the break.

From there, Lipin took over as he scored with three straight goals to open the third period with a penalty shot (6:13) and a pair of natural goals (5:54, 4:57) to push FIU out to an 8-4 lead.  Following a goal by Utah's Graham Smith (So., Salt Lake City, Utah) at the 4:30 mark to slice the deficit back to three, Lipin struck again with another even-strength tally at 4:13 to make it 9-5.

Utah's Tyler Pool (Jr., Park City, Utah) attempted to stop the bleeding and begin a Utes comeback with a man-up goal at 3:32, but Lipin added his second succesful penalty shot of the period with 3:17 on the clock to conclude his five-goal barrage during the period and set the score at 10-6.

The deficit was too much for Utah to overcome in the fourth period as the Utes were only able to trade punches with the Panthers in the fourth period with each team scoring a pair of tallies for the 12-8 final.

Overall, Vaughan and Chris Arias (Gr., Miami, Fla.) added pairs of goals in support of Lipin's seven scores, while Andy Alvarez (Sr., Miami, Fla.) tacked on a single score to round out FIU's scorers.

For Utah, Bradley led the way with four scores, while four other players added single tallies.

Between the pipes, Theo Jenetopolous (Sr., Miami, Fla.) and Sam Thomas (Jr., Salt Lake City, Utah) both finished with eight saves for their program

FIU Goals: Alexander Lipin (7); Chris Arias (2); Chase Vaughan (2); Andy Alvarez

Utah Goals: Danny Bradley (4); Brent Weldon; Graham Smith; Christian Hayes; Tyler Pool

Saves: FIU - Theo Jenetopolous (8) ; Utah - Sam Thomas (8)

Exclusions: FIU - 7 ; Utah - 6

Advantage Opportunities: FIU - 4-for-6 ; Utah - 4-for-7

Sprints: FIU - 0-for-4 ; Utah - 4-for-4