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No. 1 Michigan State Downs No. 5 Miami 6-4 to Finish Third at National Collegiate Club Championship
2010 Men's National Collegiate Club Schedule & Scores
CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Nick Talaski (Sr., Rockford, Mich.) and Andrew Olesnavich (Sr., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) both contributed pairs of goals to share Player of the Game honors as No. 1 ranked Michigan State University upended No. 5 University of Miami 6-4 in the third place game of the 2010 Men's National Collegiate Club Championship at Southern Utah University.
The third place finish marks the sixth consecutive year the Spartans have finished among the Top Four teams at the National Collegiate Club Championship as MSU advanced to the 2005-08 title games before placing fourth last year at the University of Florida.
Miami opened up the game by sprinting down the pool and finding Juan Lopez (So., Miami, Fla.) who buried a feed with a backhand shot for a 1-0 lead 52 seconds into the opening period. Michigan State responded with a man-up goal by Talaski at 4:45 before Olesnavich converted on a man-up bid at 2:55 and Talaski skipped in a natural marker at 2:03 to make it 3-1 in favor of MSU.
The Hurricanes sprinted down the pool once again and worked the ball to Andrew Fitzpatrick (Jr., Melbourne, Australia) who finished off a centering pass with a skip-shot at 1:40 to pull Miami to within one at 3-2. However, Michigan State countered at 1:16 with a rifle-shot from the outside by Sam Marsh (Fr., Okemos, Mich.) to set the scoreboard at 4-2 after seven minutes of action.
Neither team was able to solve the other's goalie for much of the second period as a man-up goal by Olesnavich at 4:06 was the only blemish in an otherwise defensively minded frame.
The Hurricanes would not go silently into the night, however, as Fitzpatrick and Lopez beat MSU goalie Robert Spiegel (So., Dexter, Mich.) at 4:43 and 47 seconds in the third period to move Miami to within 5-4 with a period of competition still to contest in SUU's Sorenson Center.
Facing the potential of overtime, Big Ten Division champion MSU sealed the game with 1:18 remaining on the clock via a man-up goal by Jordan Sikkema (So., Grand Rapids, Mich.) following a scrum in front of the cage to lock-up the victory.
Miami, which went from worst-to-first in the Florida Division this year, was led by Fitzpatrick and Lopez who finished the game with pairs of goals on offense, while Alan Groll (So., Miami, Fla.) recorded four saves in cage.
It marks the second consecutive year that a Florida Division team finishes among the Top Four programs in the championship field as Florida International University fell to the University of California-Los Angeles in the 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship title game at the University of Florida.
Overall, the Florida Division has placed a team in the Top 10 for each of the last three years (2010 - fourth, 2009 - second, 2008 - fourth, 2007 - sixth) since splitting from the Southeast Division following the 2006 season.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| No. 1 Michigan State University |
4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -- | 6 |
| No. 5 University of Miami | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | 4 |
Miami Goals: Juan
Lopez (2), Andrew Fitzpatrick (2)
MSU Goals: Andrew Olesnavich (2), Nick Talaski (2), Sam Marsh, Jordan Sikkema
Saves: Miami - Alan Groll (4) ; MSU - Robert Spiegel (6)
Exclusions: Miami - 8 ; MSU - 3
Advantage Opportunities: Miami - 0-for-3 ; MSU - 4-for-8
Sprints: Miami - 3-for-3 ; MSU - 0-for-3
Officials: Bruce Morehouse, Dave Alberstein
