HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Leyton Kraft (Pearland, Texas) and Travis Thames (Pearland, Texas) scored five and four goals, respectively, to share Player of the Game status as Texas Division Champion/No. 7-ranked Texas A&M University built a lead by the conclusion of the first quarter and never looked back in downing Sierra Pacific Division regular season champion/No. 3 California State University-Chico by a 12-7 final score in the 2026 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Third Place game.
Texas A&M – which previously placed Third (2005), Seventh (2024), Ninth (2008), 13th (2007, 2016) and 15th (2001, 2002) at Nationals – overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 within the first 3:30 of the game before pulling away from the Wildcats to clinch the program’s second consecutive Top Three finish at the National Championship event.
Petar Simovic (Montenegro), Logan Kraft (Pearland, Texas) and Korban Tubbs (San Antonio, Texas) chipped in single scores to join with Leyton Kraft and Thames on the scoresheet, while goalkeeper John Pawsat (Houston, Texas) stopped five shots in claiming the victory between pipes.
Cal State-Chico – which made the championship field as the Sierra Pacific Division representative due to winning the regular season title with the division championship tournament occurring this weekend at the University of California-Santa Cruz – improves its finish to by spot to Fourth after the team notched a Fifth Place mark in 2005 during the program’s inaugural appearance at Nationals.
Rhett Wildenradt (Sr., Rocklin, Calif.) and Cameron Reed (Jr., Rocklin, Calif.) keyed the Wildcats’ attack with three goals to join with Joseph Stanbrirdge (Jr., Huntington Beach, Calif.) in accounting for CSU-Chico’s offensive output. Goalkeeper Kameron Warren (Sr., La Jolla, Calif.) made four saves in taking the loss.
Trailing 1-0 following an opening blow by Reed with 5:37 left in the first quarter, Texas A&M pulled even at 5:15 via a man-up score by Thames. Wildenradt pushed Chico State back in front at 2-1 courtesy a power-play strike at 3:36, but back-to-back counterstrikes by Leyton Kraft at 2:07 and 1:22 gave Texas A&M a 3-2 lead.
The Aggies refused to fall behind for the remainder of the contest as Thames (6:29, penalty shot) and Leyton Kraft (3:36) kicked-off the second quarter with scores to provide the Lone Star State contingent a 5-2 lead.
Wildenradt put an end to Texas A&M’s 4-0 offensive surge by finding the back twine at 2:47 to shrink the Wildcats’ deficit down to 5-3. However, Simovic (52 seconds) and Tubbs (15 seconds, man-up) expanded the lead to 7-3 prior to halftime by notching last minute goals.
In the third quarter, Texas A&M expanded its lead to five goals and Chico immediately responded each time as Logan Kraft (4:24), Reed (4:01), Thames (1:28) and Stanbridge (28 seconds) put away shots to establish the margin at 9-5 following 21 minutes of competition.
The back-and-forth nature of the contest continued in the fourth quarter as Wildendradt (6:30), Leyton Kraft (5:39; 3:25, man-up) and Reed (4:33) exchanged goals before Thames capped off the contest with 42 seconds left for the 12-7 final.
