TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Player of the Game Matthew French (Sr., Danville, Calif.) was among four athletes from Southwest Division Champion/No. 3-ranked San Diego State University to score twice as the Aztecs built a four-goal lead by halftime and held on against Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 2 the University of Southern California (USC), 12-10, to earn a spot in the 2017 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship title game.
It marks the third title game berth for the Aztecs since the program’s inaugural appearance at a Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship in 2014 as the squad dropped matches to Lindenwood in both 2014 (13-8 L at Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center, Kearns, Utah) and 2015 (10-9 L at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif.). Further, SDSU fell just short of making four consecutive title games last year as the team dropped a 7-6 game to eventual National Championship runner-up Long Beach State University (7-6 L) during the semifinals of the 2016 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame on the way to a Third Place finish.
In the history of the league, San Diego State is among seven teams to appear in back-to-back National Championship games joining Lindenwood (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), USC (2011, 2012), the University of California-Los Angeles (2009, 2010), Michigan State University (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), California Polytechnic State University (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) and the United States Military Academy (1994, 1995). However, SDSU is the only one without a National Championship to its name – a historical footnote which the 2017 edition of the Aztecs will hope to eliminate at 12;45 on Sunday, November 12, in the National Championship game against Texas Division Champion/No. 11 the University of Texas.
Texas, which downed Pacific Coast Division runner-up/No. 5 California Polytechnic State University in the earlier semifinal by a 9-6 final score, will battle a SDSU team which held it own against the pugnacious Pacific Coast Division Champion Trojans.
Down 1-0 early thanks to a score by Connor Talleur 14 seconds into the game to break the ice for USC, Blake Harmon (Jr., Moopark, Calif.) posted the equalizer 25 seconds later with 6:21 to go in the opening period to deadlock the squads at one-all.
The tie lasted for slightly over a minute until Mitchell Fargo put the Pacific Coast Division Champions back ahead at 2-1 with 5:10 remaining. It marked the final time the Trojans held the lead as Harmon struck again at 4:50 to knot the score at two-all prior to French lining in a penalty-shot with three minutes remaining to make it 3-2 in favor of the Aztecs..
TIm Barnett (So., Laguna Beach, Calif.) closed the first quarter with another strike as the horn sounded to push the margin to 4-2.
Peter DeSoto (So., Seal Beach, Calif.) further insulated the lead at the 5:57 mark of the second quarter, but a quick strike from USC’s Ed Jeon at 5:29 kept the Trojans within arms-length of pulling even at 5-3.
Josh Heller (Sr., The Atwater, Calif.) returned the lead to three with 3:43 remaining on the second quarter clock, but USC received a man-up conversion by William Reiner Lueth with 2:09 to go to stay within a pair of SDSU at 6-4.
San Diego State hit the back of the cage twice prior to halftime to inflate its lead to 8-4 by the break as Kyle Seume (Sr, Tustin, Calif.) swung in a man-up chance with 41 seconds remaining and Mitch Frame (Sr., Vista, Calif.) stroked in an even-strength bid with 14 seconds left to further place USC on its heels.
However, Southern California made the contest interesting in the third quarter as Fargo lined in a five-meter penalty shot at 5:09 and Jeon buried a man-up opportunity with 3:52 on the clock to slice SDSU’s lead back to two at 8-6.
Needing some offense to stymie the Trojans’ comeback try, Kyle Hicks (So., Orange, Calif.) delivered for San Diego State by connecting on a laser with 3:32 until the fourth quarter to make it 9-6.
USC appeared primed to see its comeback through in the opening moments of the fourth quarter as Jeon completed a hat-trick courtesy a power-play opportunity (6:21) prior to Fargo putting more heat on San Diego State with an even-strength score at 5:41 to shrink the difference between the programs down to 9-8.
DeSoto broke up the Trojans mini-run with an advantage goal of his own at the 5:19 mark of the fourth quarter to return a two-goal lead to San Diego State at 10-8.
Again, the margin did not stay constant for long as Fargo fired in his fourth goal of the evening at the 3:44 mark to return the differential to one at 10-9.
Heller delivered the eventual game-winning score on a six-on-five opportunity with 3:03 on the clock to pad the difference to a pair at 11-9. Tyler Roselli hit the twine with an even-strength shot at 2:47 to make it 11-10, but French finished off the win by drilling home a man-up chance with 41 seconds on the clock for the 12-10 final score.
Overall, four players scored twice for the Aztecs in the game as French, Heller, Harmon and DeSoto each connected on pairs of shots. Hicks, Frame, Seume and Barnett posted single goals in the effort.
Between the pipes, Rockne O’Brien (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) made seven saves to earn the win. Patrick Tandy took the loss for USC with five saves in 21 minutes with Thomas Wall adding two saves in the fourth quarter.
USC received four goals by Fargo and a hat-trick from Jeon to go along with single strikes by Roselli, Lueth and Talleur.
Due to the loss, and Texas’ defeat of Cal Poly, USC will conclude its season at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 12, in a rematch of the 2017 Pacific Coast Division title game against the runner-up Mustangs.
Overall, the teams met three times in Pacific Coast Division play with Cal Poly sweeping the regular season series courtesy 10-9 (October 15 at Long Beach State University) and 16-2 (October 22 at Cal Poly) wins. However, the Trojans came out victorious when it mattered the most by stunning the Mustangs by an 11-10 count in overtime on October 29 at the University of California-Los Angeles in the division title game.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| San Diego State University | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | – | 12 |
| University of Southern California | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | – | 10 |
| USC Goals: | Mitchell Fargo (4); Ed Jeon (3); Tyler Roselli; William Reiner Lueth; Connor Talleur | |||||
| SDSU Goals: | Blake Harmon (2); Matthew French (2); Josh Heller (2); Peter DeSoto (2); Kyle Hicks; Mitch Frame; Kyle Seume; Tim Barnett; | |||||
| Saves: | USC – Patrick Tandy (5, 21 minutes), Thomas Wall (2, 7 minutes) ; SDSU – Rockne O’Brien (7) | |||||
| Exclusions: | USC – 6 ; SDSU – 7 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | USC – 4-for-7 ; SDSU – 5-for-6 | |||||
| Sprints: | USC – 3-for-4 (1st, 3rd, 4th) ; SDSU – 1-for-4 (2nd) | |||||
| Officials: | Jorge Villalobos, Humberto Navarro | |||||
Photo 1: San Diego State University’s Kyle Hicks (#14) faces the University of Southern California’s Ed Jeon (#14) and Mitchell Fargo (#21); Photo 2: University of Southern California goalie Patrick Tandy (#1A) and William Reiner Lueth (#2) try to stop a shot; Photo 3: San Diego State University’s Blake Harmon (#9) unloads a shot as the University of Southern California’s Tim Greer (#13) and Ed Jeon (#14) move in
