Michael Meier

No. 4 Arizona Stops No. 5 Michigan State 11-4 in National Collegiate Club Third Place Game

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Alex Negronida (Sr., Evanston, Ill.), Sam Binkow (Jr., Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and Cameron Simmons (Sr., Renton, Wash.) scored pairs of goals as the No. 4-nationally ranked Wildcats of the University of Arizona handled No. 5-ranked and defending National Champion Michigan State University 11-4 in the third place game of the 2009 Men's National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Florida.

Leading 5-3 at halftime, Arizona outscored MSU 6-1 down the stretch to overpower the Spartans and restart their string of Final Four finishes at Nationals after placing fourth (2007, 2006, 2003), third (2005) and second (2004) from 2003-07.  Last year, Arizona missed out on the National Championship tournament as the Wildcats fell to Arizona State University in the Southwest Division title game.

The key to the game was Arizona's ability to shutdown the MSU scorers as the Wildcats' defense limted Michigan State to four shots on goal in the second half.

Trailing 3-1 following back-to-back scores on direct shots by Jake Marsh (So., Okemos, Mich) at 6:39 and 6:11 of the second period, Arizona climbed back into the game with a natural score by Steven Rodriguez (Fr., Danville, Calif.) and a man-up tally by Ryan Hodge (Fr., Valencia, Calif.) at the 5:55 and 5:22 marks, respectively, to knot the game at 3-3.

The score remained tied for only 43 seconds as Negronida blasted a direct shot past MSU netminder Ben Shantz (Jr., Rockford, Mich.) at 4:39 for a 4-3 lead before Alex Williams (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) chipped in a score with 13 seconds left in the first half for a 5-3 Wildcats' lead at the break.

Arizona expounded on the margin in the third period outscoring MSU 4-0 with tallies by Binkow (5:46, 2:07), Dylan Davison (Fr., Bellevue, Wash.) (5:15) and Simmons (3:26) at even-strength to blow the game open at 9-3 entering the fourth period.

The margin expanded to 11-3 by the 3:19 mark of the final period of play as Negronida and Simmons completed their pairs at the 4:41 and 3:19 marks, respectively, to conclude a 10-scoring run by the Wildcats dating back to the 5:05 mark of the first period.

Drew Dakin (Fr., Saline, Mich.) ended the run and contributed a token goal for the Spartans with 1:55 left on the clock for the 11-4 final.

In cage, Shantz finished with six saves for Michigan State, while Michael Meier (Sr., Coto De Caza, Ariz.) picked up the victory for Arizona while making five saves.

Arizona Goals: Cameron Simmons (2); Sam Binkow (2); Alex Negronida (2); Steve Rodriguez; Dylan Davison; Ryan Hodge; Alex Williams; Taylor Knowles

MSU Goals: Jake Marsh (2); Andrew Olesnavich; Drew Dakin

Saves: Arizona - Michael Meier (5) ; MSU - Ben Shantz (6)

Exclusions: Arizona - 5; MSU -6

Advantage Opportunities: Arizona - 0-for-6 ; MSU - 1-for-5

Sprints: Arizona - 1-for-4 ; MSU - 3-for-4