MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Alexander Rolph (So., San Luis Obispo, Calif.) buried six scoring chances, including a trio in the second quarter, as Bates College built leads of 6-2 and 11-5 by the conclusion of the first and second quarters to hang on for a 17-10 defeat of Carnegie Mellon University in the Third Place game of the 2017 Men’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship at Middlebury College.
The Third Place finish marks the inaugural known Top Four finish n the history of the Bobcats’ program at the Division III Club Championship. Due to records from the 1999 Division III Club Championship being unavailable, it marks the best known finish by a Bates team at the tournament following Fifth (2000), 10th (2001) and Seventh (2002) place marks.
Bates wasted little time in placing the Tartans behind the eight-ball as the Bobcats jumped in front 1-0 20 seconds into the game, saw CMU knot the score at 1-1 21 seconds later prior to reeling off five strikes to grab a 6-1 lead with 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Trailing 6-2 going into the second quarter, Carnegie Mellon failed to pull any closer than four goals the rest of the way as the Bobcats rattled off 5-3 and 4-2 scoring advantages in the second and third quarters, respectively, to collect a 15-7 lead entering the fourth quarter of action.
Trailing 17-7 with 3:18 left in the final frame, the Tartans sliced the final margin to seven goals by running of a 3-0 run in the final 1:43 of game play to set the scoreboard at 17-10 by the conclusion of the clock.
For Bates, Sam Bass (Sr., Greenwich, Conn.), Riley Ewing (Sr., Bedford, Mass.), Jem Bullock (So., Bainbridge Island, Wash.) and Kyle Crans (So., Camden, Maine) rifled in five, three, two and one goal, respectively, to accompany Rolph’s sextet. Nick Eaton (So., Lake Oswego, Ore.) claimed the win with six saves in three quarters prior to Will Green (So., Swampscott, Mass.) coming on to make three stops in the fourth quarter.
On the other end of the tank, Evans Hauser (Gr., Piedmont, Georgia) led the Tartans with five goals. Jacob Gobbo (Jr., Chino Hills, Calif.) added a pair, while Kevin Steinhouse (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.), Terrence Huang (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) and Vivaan Bahl (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif.) each tacked on solo strikes in support of a six-save effort by goalie Misha Ivkov (Fr., San Jose, Calif.).
The Fourth Place finish continues a trend of recent success for Carnegie Mellon as the team previously garnered Second (2016), Sixth (2005, 2013, 2014, 2015), Seventh (2008, 2010), Eighth (2011) and Ninth (2012) Place marks in prior trips to the Division III Club Championship.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Bates College | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | – | 17 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | – | 10 |
| Carnegie Mellon Goals: | Evans Hauser (5); Jacob Gobbo (2); Kevin Steinhouse; Terrence Huang; Vivaan Bahl | |||||
| Bates Goals: | Alexander Rolph (6); Sam Bass (5); Riley Ewing (3); Jem Bullock (2); Kyle Crans | |||||
| Saves: | Carnegie Mellon – Misha Ivkov (6) ; Bates – Nick Eaton (7, 21 minutes), Will Green (3, 7 minutes) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Carnegie Mellon – 4 ; Bates – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Carnegie Mellon – 3-for-6 ; Bates – 1-for-4 | |||||
| Sprints: | Carnegie Mellon – 0-for-4 ; Bates – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Officials: | Dennis Kinne, Brian Swider | |||||
Photo 1: Bates College goalie Nick Eaton; Photo 2: Carnegie Mellon University goalie Misha Ivkov tries for a save as Joe Segel (#12) defends; Photo 3: Bates College’s Same Bass attempts to elude Carnegie Mellon University’s Aneek Mukherjee (#16)
