New York State of Mind: Division III No. 5 New York University Makes 2019 Men’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship Title Game by Besting Division III No. 7 Bates College, 17-9

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Goalie JP Faza (Fr., Orange County, Calif.) made 11 saves and Simon Derby (So., Greenwich, Conn.) scored seven goals as Division III No. 5-ranked New York University of the New York Division topped Division III 7 Bates College of the North Atlantic Division, 17-9, to reach the 2019 Men’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship title game.

• The victory places NYU into the tournament’s title game at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 3, back at Villanova University’s Pavilion Pool as the squad will take on Division III No. 1 and five-time defending Division III National Champion Washington University in St. Louis of the Missouri Valley Division.  The tile game appearance is NYU’s fourth all-time at the Division III Club Championship as the program fell to Wesleyan University (2004, 2005) and Lindenwood University (2008) in three prior berths.  Historically, NYU’s last appearance in the title game also came at Villanova as the institution in the suburbs of Philadelphia previously hosted the tournament in 2008.
• Due to the loss, Bates will take on the United States Coast Guard Academy of the Colonial Division – which lost by a 14-10 count to Washington – in the Third Place game at 10:15 a.m.  Historically, Bates has finished Fifth (2000), 10th (2001), Seventh (2002), Third (2017) and Fourth (2018) in five prior trips to the Division III Collegiate Club Championship tournament
• In a battle of the Bobcats – as both Bates and NYU share the same mascot – it was the Empire State version of the felines that came out on top thanks to a second quarter surge.
• NYU overcame a 3-1 deficit with 3:18 left in the first quarter to pull ahead 7-5 by halftime thanks to 5-2 scoring burst in the second quarter.
• New York broke the ice in the game as Derby deposited a man-up tally with 6:23 left on the first quarter clock to stake his team to an early 1-0 lead.  Bates fired back as Kyle Crans (Sr., Camden, Maine) and James Calhoon (Jr., Menlo Park, Calif.) stuffed even-strength scores into the cage with 5:05 and 4:25 still to play in the opening frame, respectively, to provide the Maine institution with a 2-1 margin.
• Both teams found the back of the cage in the waning moments of the first quarter as Jem Bullock (Sr., Bainbridge Island, Wash.) built Bates’ lead to 3-1 with 3:18 on the clock prior to Malik Bouaoudia (Sr., Geneva, Switzerland) delivering an answer with 20 ticks remaining to move NYU back within one at 3-2.
• Bouaoudia’s goal turned the game as New York pulled even and went ahead with back-to-back strikes from Derby (5:30, 4:49) to commence the second quarter.  Bates evened the damage at four-all via a man-up tally by Mathew Engles (Sr., Akron, Ohio) with 3:15 to go until halftime, but consecutive even-strength markers by Bassel Heiba Elfeky (Gr., Cairo, Egypt) and Ben Conley (Sr., Orinda, Calif.) at 3:00 and 1:40, respectively, returned the lead to NYU at 6-4.
• Ryan Fisse (So., Los Altos, Calif.) attempted to reinvigorate the Bates’ offense by burying an even-strength opportunity at 1:15, but Jordan Chen (So., East Brunswick, N.J.) countered with 22 seconds until halftime to expand NYU’s lead back to a pair at 7-5.
• Chen’s goal commenced a scoring run for New York as back-to-back strikes by Derby (6:26, 5:37) followed by successful heaves from Elfeky (4:47) and Chen (3:29) allowed the team from the “City that Never Sleeps” to begin putting doubts about the eventual outcome to rest in expanding the scoreboard differential to 11-5.
• Bates was unable to overcome the deficit the rest of the way as the team moved within five (12-7) with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter.  However, the team could pull no closer down the stretch as NYU held a 14-7 lead at the conclusion of the third quarter and outscored its foe 3-2 during the fourth quarter.
• For NYU, Derby (seven), Chen (three), Aaron Lawrence (Gr, Dallas, Texas) (three) and Elfey (two) all registered multi-goal games to go along with single scores by Conley and Bouaoudia.
• Bullock (three), Fisse (two) and Calhoon (two) put away multiple shots to accompany single goals from Crans and Engles for Bates.  Charlie Nadel (So., Westport, Conn.)  made seven saves in taking the loss.
  

Bates College’s Kyle Crans (#11)

New York University’s Bassel Heiba Elfeky (#13)