ATHENS, Ohio --  Brent Moser (Sr., Lake Mary, Fla.) completed a hat-trick with five seconds remaining in the first three-minute sudden death overtime period to lead the No. 4 University of Florida Gators to a dramatic 6-5 sudden death overtime victory against the No. 17 University of Illinois-Chicago Flames in the second round of the National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Ohio University.

The win places Florida into the semifinal round of the tournament as the Gators will take on co-No. 1 Michigan State University at 9:50 p.m. on November 15 in the second of two semifinal games.  In the other semifinal, co-No. 1 and defending National Champion California Polytechnic State University will meet No. 3 Arizona State University.  The winners of the semifinals will meet at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, November 16 for the national title game, while semifinal losers will square off at 11:30 a.m. in the third place game.

It marks a rare occurrence in the collegiate club ranks as the top four teams in the latest national poll will meet in the semifinals to decide the title game participants.

Florida and UIC battled throughout the contest with neither team building a lead larger than a goal at any point in the game.

The Flames torched the Gators first in the contest as Vasily Baycharov (Sr., Omsk, Siberia) scored with 4:41 left in the first period to give UIC a 1-0 lead.  Florida answered back two and a half minutes later as Justin Oakes (Jr., Windmere, Fla.) scored on an exclusion opportunity to knot the game at one-all, but Ante Vujic (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) gave Illinois-Chicago back the lead at the 1:17 mark with a natural goal.

Patrick Topps (Sr., Orlando, Fla.) responded for the Gators scoring on another exclusion chance with 33 seconds left in the second period to equalize the game at two-all before halftime.

UIC regained the lead at 3-2 on a score by Andrew Peterson (Jr., Mundelein, Ill.) with 5:14 left in the third period, but the Gators snapped back to tie the game up at three-all on a penalty shot by Moser at the 4:19 mark. 

The Flames went back in front for the fourth time less than three minutes later as Peterson struck again to give UIC a 4-3 lead with 1:30 left in the third period.

Florida tied the score for the fourth time with 4:12 remaining in the fourth period as Craig Blocher (Jr., Worthington, Ohio) beat UIC goalie Derreck Brace (Sr., La Grange, Ill.) with a rising shot to knot the game at four-all.

Neither team could muster much offense the rest of the way as Brace and Gators' goalie Travis Catron (So., Orlando, Fla.) shut down the team's shooters to force overtime.

In the two-three minute extra frames, each team dominated a period as Florida took its first lead of the game at 5-4 on a marker by Moser with 2:25 on the clock, while UIC tied the game at 5-5 with two seconds remaining in the second OT period with a desperation shot by Baycharov on an exclusion chance.

Playing in a third overtime period with the first to score earning the win, Florida picked up his second lead of the game and the deciding score off the hand of Moser who ripped a shot into the cage with five ticks on the game clock for the 6-5 sudden death victory.

Catron finished with seven saves to earn the win for Florida, while Brace blocked away nine shots for UIC.

Florida will have a chance to equal or record the program's best finish at Nationals as the Gators can finish no worse than fouth in the final standings.  Previously, the team placed 11th (2002), third (2001), eighth (2000) and ninth (2003).

UIC Goals: Vasily Baycharov (2); Andrew Peterson (2); Ante Vujic

Florida Goals:  Brent Moser (3); Justin Oakes; Patrick Topps; Craig Blocher

Saves: UIC - Derreck Brace (9) ; Florida - Travis Catron (7) 

Ejections: UIC - 9 ; Florida - 7

Sprints: UIC - 0 ; Florida - 7