Tufts takes on Salisbury for the Division III National Championship in Baltimore. Its heating up on the field and with the recent history between these two, this will be the rubber match to see who has the advantage in National Championship. Tufts won the first with that defensive performance, only to awaken Sam Bradman and the Gulls a year later.
Face off is in just over thirty minutes…. Stay tuned for the live blog.
Starting Line Up:
Tufts: Salisbury:
A Uppgren, Wood, Bailey DePol, Kane, Phipps
M Leventhal, Delaney, Bowers Korvin, Fitgerald, Lange
D Kalkavan, Alles, Read Martin, Kraus, Kemp
G Watkins Taylor
Still twenty-four minutes to go…
Both teams have been introduced, the anthem is finished, and the crowd is pretty evenly split between the two. It is game time.
First possession goes to Tufts on a face off violation.
Tufts breaks the ice with Peter Gill. Jumbos up one within the first minute of the game.
1-1 Tie when Greg Korvin strikes for the Gulls. Both goals were unassisted. Great pace to the game, as both teams are excited.
2-1 Sean Fitgerald scores, assist credited to Greg Korvin. Good shot to get by Wakins. Salisbury takes their first lead.
3-1 Salisbury when Tom Cirillo gets one, assist to Brandon Kendrick.
Salibury calls a timeout with 1:28. Two stall warnings for the Gulls and the Jumbos were putting a lot of pressure before the timeout to try to cut into the lead.
3-1 at the end of the first quarter. Salisbury’s defense is holding strong and dominating play over the Jumbos.
4-1 Salisbury. Scoring starts in the second when Luke Phipps scores nearly four minutes in. Change in goal very quickly for Tufts. Just a simple equipment change.
Would have been 4-2 but Tufts was called in the crease. Clear push but the refs know best. Great goal but disallowed probably as he stick faked as he was going into the crease before finishing.
4-2 Tufts. Cole Bailey with a beautiful drive and finish as he fell to the turf.
4-3 Bailey found Beau Wood in transition after Salisbury turned it over mid clear. One goal game with just under six minutes left in the half.
5-3 Salisbury. Rhett DePol in transition, assisted by Mike Kane.
5-4 John Uppgren from Bailey. Transition and unsettled opportunities are opening up for both teams and each are capitalizing.
5-5 Tied up. Uppgren alone in front. Bailey found him again. Great pick play that left him alone.
5-5 At the half. Tufts will have possession when they open the half trying to erase just over thirty seconds of a non-releaseable penalty.
Third Quarter under way.
6-5 Tufts as Ben Andreycak scores before teams played settled O and D.
7-5 Tufts. Andreycak scored on Tufts first extra man possession. Assisted by Uppgren.
**As a note, Tufts last goal sets a new record in goals per season at 418. Mark last held by Salisbury’s 2007 team.
7-6 Tufts. Donovan Lange from Korvin. Two man play up top that Tufts did not defend well.
8-6 Tufts. CJ Higgins. Good bounce Tufts way as the ball ended up in Bailey’s stick and he found Higgins open.
9-6 Tufts. Dan Leventhal. 4:21 left in the third quarter.
10-6 Tufts. Conor Helfrich on the ensuing face off. Eleven seconds after their last. Continually winning face offs is putting a lot of pressure on the Salisbury defense.
11-6 Tufts. Peter Bowers with the assist to Uppgren. Tufts on the run and Salisbury forced to call a timeout. 3:33 left in 3rd.
Salisbury is able to gain possession on the face off after the time out. They need to give their defense a rest. The Gulls are antsy to cut the deficit.
12-6 Tufts. Peter Gill gets his second as Tufts was playing for the last shot. Bailey with another assist as Tufts doubles up the Gulls. Tufts has been making runs all year and this is a classic case.
End of the third onto the last quarter in the DIII Season.
45 assists in the tournament for Tufts and still one quarter to play. The Jumbos have set a few today now.
12-7 Tufts when Salisbury gets one from Donovan Lange. Much needed for the Gulls if they are going to chip away at this lead.
12-8 Tufts. Mike Kane scores when Luke Phipps found him open in front of Watkins.
Tufts time out with 8:40 left in the game. Probably settling the troops because they need to be opportunistic instead of trying to unload from all over.
7:21 Tufts slashing penalty.
12-9 Tufts. Sean Fitzgerald capitalizes for the Gulls.
And its over. Tufts is your 2014 National Champion. Congrats to the Jumbos. 12-9 Final
