TUCSON, Arizona — Another year, another ring for Lindenwood University as the No. 10-ranked/Missouri Valley Division Champion Lions knocked off No. 17/Rocky Mountain Division Champion the University of Utah by a 14-10 count in the title game of the 2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by the University of Arizona.
The 2014 (at Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center/Utah), 2015 (at the University of Santa Cruz) and 2016 (at the University of Notre Dame) Men’s National Collegiate Club Champion after previously taking the 206, 2007 and 2008 Men’s Division III Collegiate Club Championships, the Lions take home their seventh National Championship in eight tries as the squad fell in the 2013 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship title game to the University of California-Los Angeles.
Led by a five-goal, Player of the Game performance by Andreja Babic (So., Belgrade, Serbia) and 12 saves by goalie Arnau Bayer (Fr., Barcelona, Spain), the Lions never trailed in the title tilt to capture the program’s fourth crown in the past five years.
Lindenwood, which missed out on a record four consecutive titles last year with a first round loss to California Polytechnic State University, raced out to a 3-0 lead by the three-minute mark of the first quarter as Nikola Nasev (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia), Babic and Vuk Budrak (Fr., Belgrade, Serbia) ticked off tallies at 5:05, 4:11 and 3:22, respectively. Brendan Nguyen (Gr., Minneapolis, Minn.) cut into the lead prior to the concluding horn for the first seven minutes of action as he swept in a shot with 2:42 on the clock to make it 3-1 at the break.
Lindenwood ripped off another 3-0 run to begin the second quarter as Jamie Gambin (So., Sliema, Malta) (6:15, man-up), Babic (5:30, penalty shot) and Nasev (5:00, natural) dented the netting to build the Lions’ margin to 6-1.
Back-to-back blows by Sage Helton (Fr., Kearns, Utah) at 4:47 and 4:09 pulled the Utes within three at 6-3, but Babic (3:33) and Marino Chorro (So., Madrid, Spain) (11 seconds) returned the lead to five at 8-3 by halftime.
Utah attempted to stage another comeback as Sam Huff (Sr., Salt Lake City, Utah) and Tristan Spoerri (So., Kearns, Utah) drilled in shots at 5:49 and 4:41, respectively, to make it 8-5.
The teams began trading scores as Gambin made it 9-5 (4:28), Huff trimmed it down to 9-6 (2:25) and Gambin countered at 2:12 to make it 10-6. However, Utah made the game interesting in the closing moments of the third quarter as 2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Most Valuable Player Seth Hughes (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) lined in a penalty shot at 1:58 and swished a man-up opportunity at 1:20 to mow the Lions’ scoreboard advantage to 10-8.
Budrak snapped Hughes’ one-man run with exactly one minute left in the third quarter to return the lead to three at 11-8, but Brandton Ferrin (Gr., Salt Lake City, Utah) got the goal back with 14 seconds to go as the Lions entered the final seven minutes of competition clinging to an 11-9 spread.
Utah reached the cusp of a complete comeback 1:39 into the fourth quarter as Ferrin forced in a shot at 5:21 to pull the Utes within one at 11-10.
But experience outweighs all things as the Lions past championship runs helped the Lions keep cool and respond to return to Saint Charles, Mo. with another title plaque.
Budrak put away an even-strength chance at 4:39 before Babic notched a five-meter penalty shot at 3:21 and a natural strike at 2:03 to expand the margin to an insurmountable 14-10.
Utah closed out the scoring with 11 seconds still on the clock as Hughes hooked in a power-play point for the 14-11 final.
For Lindenwood, Babic (five), Budrak (three), Gambin (three), Nasev (two) and Chorro (one) accounted for the team’s offense in support of Bayer.
Utah, which made the program’s first appearance in the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship title game after previously finishing Ninth (2007, at the Unviersity of Arizona), Seventh (2009, at the University of Florida), Fourth (2012 at the Osborn Aquatics Center/Oregon State University) and Ninth (2014, at Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center/Utah), Hughes led the way with three goals. Huff, Helton and Ferrin all tacked on pairs of scores with Spoerri putting away one ball.
During the awards presentation following the title game, the All-Conference Teams were announced:
| 2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship All-Tournament Team | |
| Most Valuable Player: | Seth Hughes (University of Utah) |
| Coach of the Tournament: | Tom Taylor (University of Utah) |
| First Team | |
| Ryan Candlish (Goalie) | University of Utah |
| Seth Hughes | University of Utah |
| Cole Carroll | California Polytechnic State University |
| Jacob Banner | California Polytechnic State University |
| Andreja Babic | Lindenwood University |
| Noah Feingold | University of California |
| Nathan Craig | University of Texas |
| Second Team | |
| Sachin Okuma (Goalie) | University of California-San Diego |
| Josh Wang | University of California-San Diego |
| Matt Klein | University of California |
| Daniel Tang | University of California |
| Drew Wilson | The Ohio State University |
| Brandton Ferrin | University of Utah |
| Sam Huff | University of Utah |
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| University of Utah | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | – | 11 |
| Lindenwood University | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | – | 14 |
| Lindenwood Goals: | Andreja Babic (5); Vuk Budrak (3); Jamie Gambin (3); Nikola Nasev (2); Marino Chorro | |||||
| Utah Goals: | Seth Hughes (3); Sam Huff (2); Sage Helton (2); Brandton Ferrin (2); Brendan Nguyen; Tristan Spoerri | |||||
| Saves: | Lindenwood – Arnau Bayer (12) ; Utah – Ryan Candlish (7) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Lindenwood – 13 ; Utah – 9 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Lindenwood – 5-for-9 ; Utah – 3-for-13 | |||||
| Sprints: | Lindenwood – 0-for-4 ; Utah – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Don Lewis, Tony Karaman | |||||
University of Utah’s Sage Helton (#9)
Lindenwood University’s Andreja Babic (#10)
2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Champion Lindenwood University celebrates
2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Most Valuable Player Seth Hughes & Coach of the Tournament Tom Taylor of the University of Utah
2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Champion – Lindenwood University
2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Second Place – University of Utah
2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Third Place – California Polytechnic State University
2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Fourth Place – University of California
