Drive for Five: No. 1 Lindenwood University Manages No. 2 University of California-San Diego, 11-9, to Reach 2019 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Title Game

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — James Gambin and Marc Tahull both scored three times to share Player of the Game recognition as Missouri Valley Division Champion/No. 1-ranked Lindenwood University went the distance with Southwest Division Champion/No. 2 University of California-San Diego to claim an 11-9 victory at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool in the semifinals of the 2019 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship.  Courtesy the win, the defending National Champion Lions return to the National Championship title game.

• A four-time National Champion (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018), the Lions will return to the water at 12:45 p.m on Sunday, November 17, against the victor of a semifinal between Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 3 the University of Southern California and Rocky Mountain Division Champion/No. 5 the University of Utah.
• Historically, the Lions hold the second most Men’s National Collegiate Club Championships behind only California Polytechnic State University which has won five crowns (1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007).  A victory in tomorrow’s title tilt will knot the Lions with the Mustangs as arguably the best collegiate club program in the history of water polo.
• In the history of the championship, Lindenwood has previously finished First (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018), Second (2013), Fifth (2009), Sixth (2010), Seventh (2012) and Ninth (2017).
• A 13-time Missouri Valley Division champion (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), the Lions previously appeared in four consecutive National Championship games in falling to the University of California-Los Angeles in 2013 (20-15 L) before downing San Diego State University in 2014 (13-8 W) and again in 2015 (10-9 W) and Long Beach State University in 2016 (9-5 W)
• Last year, Lindenwood topped Villanova University (20-11 W), UC-San Diego (7-3 W), the University of California (17-13 W) and finally Utah (14-11 W) to capture the 2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Arizona.
• A Lindenwood-Utah title game will mark the fifth string of two teams playing in consecutive years for the crown. The United States Military Academy and the University of Dayton battled in 1994 and 1995, Great Valley University and Michigan State University squared off in 2005 and 2006, Michigan State and California Polytechnic State University met in 2007 and 2008 and Lindenwood faced San Diego State in 2014 and 2015.  Overall, however, only Lindenwood has won back-to-back titles against the same team as Army (1994), Dayton (1995), Grand Valley State (2005), Michigan State (2006), Cal Poly (2007), Michigan State (2008) all went 1-1 in their meetings against their counterparts.
• Facing UC-San Diego for the second consecutive year at the championship, the Lions jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Vuk Budrak and Tahull put away man-up (5:31) and even-strength (4:10) opportunities, respectively.  UC-San Diego pulled even as Jordi Rivera (So., Madrid, Spain) and Graham McClone (Gr., Placerville, Calif.) reversed Lindenwood’s pattern by notching even-strength (3:03) and man-up (2:32) scores, respectively, but Gambin pushed the Lions back into the lead at 3-2 with 2:06 remaining via the contest’s third man-up strike.
• The Tritons responded to Gambin’s go-ahead score by taking possession of the lead as Malachi Sanders (So, San Diego, Calif.) drilled in back-to-back markers at 1:45 and 1:02 to hand UC-San Diego a 4-3 margin.  However, the lead was short-lived as Tahull knotted the score at four-all with 38 seconds left in the frame.
• Lindenwood went back in front during the second quarter as Budrak (4:37) and Tahull (2:06) found the back of the cage with both teams at even-strength, while netminder Marcel Farres held the Tritons off the scoreboard to allow the Lions to enter halftime with a 6-4 lead.
• Similar to UC-San Diego’s margin at the conclusion of the first quarter, Lindenwood’s advantage disappeared in short order to commence the third quarter.
• McClone (6:16) and Sheldon French (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) (5:55, 4:41) turned the tables on Lindenwood by combining for back-to-back-to-back scores to put the Tritons back into the lead at 7-6. 
• Mitchell Griffin accounted for an equalizer at 3:50 and McClone responded with another go-ahead goal at 2:48 to make it 8-7 in favor of UC-San Diego. 
• It marked the last time the Southwest Division Champions led in the contest as Gambin closed out the third quarter with man-up (2:15) and natural (31 seconds) scores to give Lindenwood a 9-8 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
• Andrew Burda (So., Palos Verdes, Calif.) balanced the scoreboard at nine-all with 4:41 remaining in regulation by converting on a man-up opportunity to raise the idea of overtime.
• However, Marino Chorro (3:15, penalty shot) and Mateo Lema (35 seconds, man-up) dealt the game’s final blows to return the lead to the Lions and provide some insurance for an 11-9 win.
• For Lindenwood, Budrak (two) joined Gambin and Tahull in recording multi-goal games.  Lema, Chorro and Griffin each found the back of the cage once in support of a seven save performance by Farres.
• UC-San Diego received a hat-trick from McClone along with pairs of tallies by Sanders and French.  Burda and Rivera each notched single markers. In cage, Sachin Okuma (Jr., Santa Ana, Calif.) made eight saves in suffering the defeat.
• Due to the loss, UC-San Diego falls into the Third Place game at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 17, against the loser of the USC-Utah semifinal.
• A three-time qualifier for the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship, UC-San Diego has previously finished Ninth (2013) and Fifth (2018) in its two prior appearances.
• Last year, the Tritons recorded a Fifth Place mark at the 2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by the University of Arizona as the team faced Oregon State University (14-3 W), Lindenwood (7-3 L), The Ohio State University (11-7 W) and the University of Texas (7-6 W).
• Prior to last year, UC-San Diego made the National Collegiate Club Championship as the No. 16 seed for the 2013 event by way of serving as host. In their first appearance at the National Championship tournament, the Tritons fell to the University of California-Los Angeles (10-7 L), stopped the University of Oregon (10-6 W) and Cornell University (16-12 W OT) prior to topping the University of Maryland (11-7 W) in the Ninth Place game.

University of California-San Diego’s Andrew Schade (#4) attempts to pass against Lindenwood University’s Nikola Vukic (#7)

Lindenwood University’s Marcel Farres (#1) attempts a save

Lindenwood’s Mateo Lema (#13) backs into the University of California-San Diego’s Graham McClone (#3)