MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Kevin Steinhouse (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) and Evans Hauser (Gr., Piedmont, Georgia) put away five and four goals, respectively, to lead Carnegie Mellon University to an 11-10 defeat of the United States Coast Guard Academy in the opening round of the 2017 Men’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Middlebury College.
CMU, which fell by a 14-7 final score in the 2016 Division III Club Championship game to Washington University in St. Louis at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., struck for a pair of goals with 2:01 and 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter to build enough of a lead to dock Coast Guard’s victory hopes.
The Tartans and Bears traded goals in the early going leading to a 4-3 Carnegie Mellon lead after seven minutes of action. The back-and-forth style of play continued in the second quarter as Coast Guard ticked off back-to-back markers with 5:31 and 4:22 remaining in the first half to go in front 5-4. CMU answered with a strike by Joe Segel (So., Newtown, Pa.) to know the contest at five-all, but Miguel Hernandez (Miami, Fla.) flushed a shot into the back of the cage with one second remaining in the second quarter to shove Coast Guard in front by a 6-5 count after 14 minutes of competition.
In the third quarter, Steinhouse (3:11, 1:58) used a pair of power-play tallies to sandwich a man-up conversion by Coast Guard’s Cory Creswell (San Diego, Calif.) at 2:50 to knot the game at six-all, fall behind 7-6 and regain equilibrium at seven-all and set-up the turning point of the contest.
Tied at seven-all, Hauser slamed in a shot with 14 ticks left on the third quarter clock to place Carnegie Mellon back in front for the first time since a narrow 4-3 scoreboard advantage at the close of the first quarter.
Coast Guard’s Pat Ellis (Cooper City, Fla.) retied the game at eight 29 seconds into the fourth quarter (6:31), but Hauser responded 21 seconds later (6:10) to return the advantage to Carnegie Mellon at 9-8.
However, Coast Guard once again answered the call as Jake Bradley (Turlock, Calif.) rifled in a five-meter penalty shot with 5:11 to go to knot the score at nine-all.
Facing a resurgent Bears’ squad that refused to sink, Carnegie Mellon turned to Hauser and Steinhouse as the duo deposited shots with 2:01 and 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, respectively, to provide the Tartans’ the inaugural two-goal lead of the game at 11-9.
The lead would barely hold up down the stretch as Bradley bombed in a shot with 47 seconds remaining, but CMU’s defense stiffened down the stretch to hang on for an 11-10 win.
For Carnegie Mellon, Segel and Jacob Gobbo (Jr., Chico Hills, Calif.) tacked on solo markers in support of Hauser and Steinhouse’s Player of the Game performances. In cage, Misha Ivkov (Fr., San Jose, Calif.) saved the day with 11 stops.
On the other end of the tank, Bradley led all scorers in the game with six goals. Hernandez chipped in a pair with Ellis and Creswell both accounting for single strikes.
Goalie John Frank (Colorado Springs, Colo.) suffered the loss with seven saves.
The win advances Carnegie Mellon into an 8:10 p.m semifinal showdown with either Hamilton College or Tufts University. Coast Guard will face the fallen from a first round clash between Hamilton and Tufts at 7:00 p.m. with a spot in the Fifth Place game on the line.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| U.S. Coast Guard Academy | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | – | 10 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | – | 11 |
| Carnegie Mellon Goals: | Kevin Steinhouse (5); Evans Hauser (4); Joe Segel; Jacob Gobbo | |||||
| Coast Guard Goals: | Jake Bradley (6); Miguel Hernandez (2); Pat Ellis; Cory Creswell | |||||
| Saves: | Carnegie Mellon – Misha Ivkov (11) ; Coast Guard – John Frank (7) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Carnegie Mellon – 7 ; Coast Guard – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Carnegie Mellon – 3-for-6 ; Coast Guard – 2-for-7 | |||||
| Sprints: | Carnegie Mellon – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 4th) ; Coast Guard – 1-for-4 (3rd) | |||||
| Officials: | Steve Sargalski, Brian Swider | |||||
Photo 1: Carnegie Mellon University’s Evans Hauser; Photo 2: Carnegie Mellon University’s Kevin Steinhouse looks to pass over the United States Coast Guard Academy’s Jake Bradley; Photo 3: United States Coast Guard Academy’s Miguel Hernandez
