TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Travis Thames (Fr., Houston, Texas) scored six goals to earn Player of the Game recognition as Texas Division Champion/No. 11-ranked Texas A&M University outlasted Big Ten Division Champion/No. 7 the University of Michigan, 11-9, in the opening round of the 2024 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Florida’s Ann Marie Rogers Swimming & Diving Pool in the O’Connell Center.
Courtesy the victory, Texas A&M – which is making the program’s first appearance at the National Collegiate Club Championship since the 2016 event at the University of Notre Dame – is guaranteed a Top Eight finish in the 16-team championship field and will return to the water at 10:10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, November 9, against the victor of a first round game matching Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 2 California Polytechnic State University and Southeast Division Champion/No. 20 the Georgia Institute of Technology. Michigan will face the fallen from the Cal Poly-Georgia Tech game at 6:20 p.m. this evening in the consolation side of the bracket.
Texas A&M did not lead into the game until the 49 seconds mark of the third quarter as the Aggies overcame a 7-5 halftime deficit to outlast the Wolverines.
Jeffrey Brill (Okemos, Mich.) broke the ice for the Maize & Blue with 5:23 left in the first quarter to stake Michigan to a 1-0 margin, but Texas A&M responded with back-to-back strikes from Thames at 3:27 and 2:52 to acquire a 2-1 lead,
Luke Jacobson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) answered for the Wolverines by swishing natural goals at 1:26 and at the buzzer to sandwich a man-up marker with 34 ticks remaining in the opening quarter of action to push Michigan ahead 4-2 after seven minutes of competition.
Sean Ko (Chicago, Ill.) further padded the lead 23 seconds into the second quarter (6:37) to make it 5-2 in favor of the Wolverines.
Leyton Kraft (Jr., Houston, Texas) terminated the run by lining home a penalty shot with 5:08 left in the second quarter to move the Aggies back to within two at 5-3. Brill delivered a Michigan response at 3:37 to return the lead to three at 6-3, but Parker Hett (Jr., Orinda, Calif.) and Thames lined in man-up opportunities with 2:37 and 1:00 remaining to play in the second quarter as Texas A&M closed to within 6-5. However, Zachary Rossen (Studio City, Calif.) launched home a counter-strike with one second remaining in the first half to stake Michigan to a 7-5 lead following 14 minutes of action.
The game turned in the third quarter as Logan Kraft (Fr., Houston, Texas) (2:21, man-up), Hett (1:31) and Thames (49 seconds) dented the twine during a 3-0 Aggies’ surge to push Texas A&M back in front at 8-7.
Brill erased the lead 55 seconds into the fourth quarter by firing a man-up frozen rope into the twine to deadlock the teams at eight-all with 6:05 left in regulation.
Thames came to the rescue, however, by converting opportunities for natural goals at 4:38 and 4:04 to push Texas A&M ahead 10-8. Leyton Kraft further padded the spread with a man-up score at 3:06 to make it an 11-8 contest. Michigan chipped a goal off its deficit as Rossen converted a penalty shot with 55 seconds left for the 11-9 final score.
For Michigan, Jacobson and Brill both finished with three goals for hat-tricks, while Rossen (two) and Ko combined for a trio of tallies. Goalkeepers Adam Bergen (Dexter, Mich.) and Garrett Kaufmann (Bedford, N.Y.) finished with a combined total of five saves.
Thames (six), Leyton Kraft (two), Hett (two) and Logan Kraft combined for the entirety of Texas A&M’s offense in support of a combined eight save performance by goalkeepers John Pawsat (So., Houston, Texas) and Edward Chang (Jr., Houston, Texas).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 11 Texas A&M University |
2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | – | 11 |
| No. 7 University of Michigan | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | – | 9 |
| Michigan Goals: | Luke Jacobson (3); Jeffrey Brill (3); Zachary Rossen (2); Sean Ko | |||||
| Texas A&M Goals: | Travis Thames (6); Leyton Kraft (2); Parker Hett (2); Logan Kraft | |||||
| Saves: | Michigan – Adam Bergen (4, 21 minutes), Garrett Kaufmann (1, 7 minutes) ; Texas A&M – John Pawsat (4, 14 minutes), Edward Chang (4, 14 minutes) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Michigan – 6 ; Texas A&M – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Michigan – 3-for-6 ; Texas A&M – 5-for-6 | |||||
| Sprints: | Michigan – 2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) ; Texas A&M -2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Kevin Heinrich, Chad Lemons | |||||
Texas A&M University’s Parker Hett (#3) looks to get around the University of Michigan’s Zachary Rossen (#22)
The University of Michigan’s Jeffrey Brill (#10) closes on defense against Texas A&M University’s Leyton Kraft (#2)
