No. 15 Penn Bucks No. 13 Grand Valley State 8-7 to Reach National Collegiate Club Ninth Place Game

Penn's Blake Winston (#9) scuffles with GVSU's Dakota McCaw (#7)

2010 Men's National Collegiate Club Schedule & Scores 

CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Patrick Buck (Sr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) contributed a hat-trick to earn Player of the Game accolades as the Quakers of No. 15-ranked the University of Pennsylvania held off the Lakers of No. 13 Grand Valley State University 8-7 to reach the National Collegiate Club Championship Ninth Place game.

The Quakers will take on No. 6 the University of Oregon at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, November 14 for ninth place in the 16-team tournament field, while GVSU will clash with the University of North Carolina at 3:30 p.m. in the 11th place game.

Blake Winston (So., Dallas, Texas) opened the scoring with 4:43 left in the first period. to hand the Quakers a quick 1-0 lead.  Penn's margin evaporated just as quick as it appeared as Josh Gonzales (So., Zeeland, Mich.) and Ryan Kraai (Sr., Zeeland, Mich.) tallied scores at 4:24 and 1:54, respectively, to put the Lakers ahead 2-1 through a period of play.

Penn tied the game at 2-to-2 1:08 into the second period when Buck blitzed the GVSU defense for a marker with 5:52 until the halftime horn. 

However, the Lakers dominated the remainder of the half with Josh Geneva (Sr., Grand Haven, Mich.) registering even-strength goals at 3:49 and 3:12 before slipping through the defense for an advantage score with 51 seconds remaining in the half for a 5-2 lead at the break.

The goals appeared to reinvigorate the Quakers' as Buck netted his second tally of the day at 5:32 to inch Penn within 5-3 with a period of action still on tap.

GVSU's lead disappeared 1:23 into the fourth period as Buck (6:30) and Carlos Alonso (Fr., Barcelona, Spain) (5:37) drilled shots into the cage before Nick Grover (Fr., Pasadena, Calif.) canned a marker at 3:39 to put the Quakers in front at 6-5.

The Lakers responded to Penn's go-ahead score with the equalizer at 3:03 off a catch-and-shoot by Derik Bothma (Fr., Rockford, Mich.).  Penn countered with strikes by Grover and Mike Czubakowski (Sr., Nashville, Tenn.) at 2:33 and 1:02 to build the lead to a nearly insurmountable two scores with a minute to play.

Grand Valley attempted to climb back into the game as Bothma tossed in a score with 51 ticks on the clock, but the Penn defense was able to lockdown the cage to hang on for the 8-7 victory.

In cage, Kerry Kellogg (Gr., Granite Bay, Calif.) and Peter Huyser (Sr., Zeeland, Mich.) both made 11 saves for their respective clubs.

Penn Goals: Patrick Buck (3), Nick Grover (2), Blake Winston, Mike Czubakowski, Carlos Alonso

GVSU Goals: Josh Geneva (3), Derik Bothma (2), Ryan Krai, Josh Gonzales

Saves: Penn - Kerry Kellogg (11) ; GVSU - Peter Huyser (11)

Exclusions: Penn - 3 ; GVSU - 2

Advantage Opportunities:  Penn - 0-for-2 ; GVSU - 1-for-3

Sprints: Penn - 3-for-4 ; GVSU - 1-for-4

Cards: RC - Kerry Kellogg (Penn), Derik Bothma (GVSU)

Officials: Rick Marsh, Perry Korbakis