HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Tomas Chu (So., Austin, Texas), Liam Veazey (Sr., Dallas, Texas) and Hugh Flander (Fr., Danville, Calif.) each scored twice to share Player of the Game recognition as Texas Division Champion/No. 9-ranked the University of Texas upended New York Division Champion Cornell University, 12-9, to reach the Ninth Place game of the 2021 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the Huntsville Aquatics Center.
The win places the Longhorns into the Ninth Place game at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, November 14, against the winner of a consolation game between Florida Division Champion/No. 7 Florida State University and New England Division Champion/No. 18 Boston College. Cornell will face the loser of the Florida State-Boston College in the 30th game of the 30-game championship event at 3:30 p.m. on November 14 for 11th Place in the 16-team championship field.
- The game was a story of bookends as Texas dominated early, struggled in the middle periods and surged late to guarantee the program a Top 10 finish irregardless of the outcome in the Ninth Place game.
- Veazey put the Longhorns on the board with 4:56 left in the first quarter by slamming in a shot. Cornell answered with back-to-back markers from Eddie Freedman (Sr., Greenwich, Conn.) and Eric Osband (Jr., Greenwich, Conn.) at the 4:22 and 3:20 marks, respectively, but Hugh Flander balanced the scoreboard at two-all.
- Tomas Chu (So., Austin, Texas) connected for man-up (2:26) and even-strength (1:44) strikes before Zach De Haaff (So., Menlo Park, Calif.) swished a shot at 1:16 to push Texas out to a 5-2 lead.
- Cornell chipped away at its deficit prior to the close of the first quarter to move within one at 5-4 before the end of the frame.
- The Big Red pulled even at five-all at 3:29 of the second quarter as Troy Marrero (Jr., Manchester by the Sea, Mass.) dented the twine, but Hugh Flander (2:10) and Aayan Khasigawala (Fr., Dallas, Texas) (26 seconds) responded to stake Texas to a 7-5 lead entering halftime.
- The lead grew to 8-5 51 seconds into the third quarter (6:09) as Harry Flander (Jr., Danville, Calif.) punched in a strike as the Longhorns began to pull away.
- Cornell, however, refused to go down without a fight as Alexander Seyer (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.), Adam Hollingworth (So., Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Osband went back-to-back-to-back at 4:43, 2:10 and seven seconds, respectively, to tie the game at eight-all.
- The Big Red pulled ahead for the first time since a 2-1 lead with 3:20 left in the first quarter as YJ Lee (Sr., Ithaca, N.Y.) converted a man-up chance to put Cornell ahead 9-8.
- However, Texas closed out the game on a 4-0 spurt as Ryan Park (Fr., Dallas, Texas) (5:48, man-up), Mark Weisberg (Jr., Dallas, Texas) (3:35, even-strength), Braden Willis (Fr., Rockwall, Texas) (1:57, man-up) and Chu (1:19, even-strength) put away shots to secure a 12-9 win for Texas.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Cornell University |
4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 9 |
| University of Texas | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | – | 12 |
| Texas Goals: | Tomas Chu (2); Liam Veazey (2); Hugh Flander (2); Harry Flander; Braden Willis; Ryan Park; Mark Weisberg; Aayan Khasigawala; Zach De Haaff | |||||
| Cornell Goals: | Eric Osband (3); YJ Lee (2); Eddie Freedman; Adam Hollingworth; Troy Marrero; Alexander Seyer | |||||
| Exclusions: | Texas – 12 ; Cornell – 11 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Texas – 3-for-11 ; Cornell – 3-for-12 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Victor Rarau, Valer Rarau | |||||
Cornell University’s YJ Lee (#6)
Cornell University’s Adam Hollingworth (#15) attempts to evade the University of Texas’ Liam Veazey (#11)
Cornell University’s Ryan Schildwachter (#7) & the University of Texas’ Zach De Haaff (#7)
