TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Mitchell Fargo of Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 4-ranked the University of Southern California scored five times to claim Player of the Game accolades as the Trojans downed the Cadets of New York Division Champion/No. 8 United States Military Academy, 12-8, to reach the semifinals of the 2017 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship at Florida State University’s Morcom Aquatics Center.
USC, which previously claimed the 2011 and 2012 National Collegiate Club Championships, will look to continue the program’s march to its third title at 7:30 p.m. this evening against the victor of a quarterfinal matching Southwest Division Champion/No. 3 San Diego State University and Sierra Pacific Division Champion/No. 2 University of California.
The Trojans fell behind twice in the early going against Army as the Cadets jumped in front 1-0 with 4:20 left in the first quarter via a volley by Leonid Milman (Shoreline, Wash.). Southern California evened the damage at one-all as Connor Talleur converted on a man-up chance at 3:08, but the New York Division Champions regained the lead 27 seconds later as Shelby Lee (Shingle Springs, Calif.) lined in a power-play opportunity at 2:41 to push Army ahead 2-1.
Tyler Roselli and Fargo turned the tides on Army, however, as the duo deposited dimes with 2:28 and 36 seconds left in the frame, respectively, to tie the score and provide USC a lead it would never relinquish for the remainder of the contest. Fargo expanded the spread to 4-2 prior to the closing horn of the first quarter by torquing home an advantage tally with five ticks on the clock.
However, it was the second quarter in which the Trojans stemmed the tide of the Army attack and took command of the game.
Talleur opened the period by putting away a shot with 5:54 until halftime prior to Fargo flushing back-to-back bids (5:10, 4:04) to expand the lead to 7-2. Roselli built the gap between the team to six-goals prior to halftime as he lofted in a shot with 2:49 remaining in the second quarter to stake USC to an 8-2 advantage on the scoreboard.
Jared Livingston made it 9-2 24 seconds (6:36) into the third quarter, but Army went back on the attack with Aaron Chough (Cerritos, Calif.) and Lee tickling the twine at the 6:16 and 4:44 marks, respectively, to pull their team to within 9-4 of Southern California.
Drew Hirsch put USC at the decade mark with 4:16 left to make it a 10-4 game, but Matthew Kim (San Francisco, Calif.) answered at 3:30 to once again pull Army within five at 10-5.
Livingston (2:40) and Fargo (four seconds) drew the curtain down on the third quarter by rocking the cage with strikes to hand the Trojans a 12-5 lead entering the fourth and final quarter of play.
The Cadets attempted to rally back as Lee (3:46) and Colin Stone (San Antonio, Texas) (4:12) registered natural markers and Milman slipped in a power-play bid at 4:44, but the three-goal surge was not enough to overcome USC’s seven-goal spread in setting the final score at 12-8.
For USC, Talleur, Roselli and Livingston each notched pairs of goals, while Hirsch hooked in a solo marker. In cage, the tandem of Patrick Tandy and Thomas Wall combined for six saves.
Army, which will next be in action at 5:10 p.m. later today against the loser of the San Diego State-California game with a spot in the Fifth Place game on the line, received a hat-trick by Lee and a pair of markers from Milman. Kim, Stone and Chough each tossed in single goals, while netminder Jeffrey Stark (Davis, Calif.) turned away five scoring tries.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| United States Military Academy | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | – | 8 |
| University of Southern California | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | – | 12 |
| USC Goals: | Mitchell Fargo (5); Connor Talleur (2); Tyler Roselli (2); Jared Livingston (2); Drew Hirsch | |||||
| Army Goals | Shelby Lee (3); Leonid Milman (2); Matthew Kim; Colin Stone; Aaron Chough | |||||
| Saves: | USC – Patrick Tandy (3, 21 minutes), Thomas Wall (3, 7 minutes) ; Army – Jeffrey Stark (5) | |||||
| Exclusions: | USC – 4 ; Army – 5 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | USC – 2-for-5 ; Army – 2-for-4 | |||||
| Sprints: | USC – 3-for-4 (2nd, 3rd, 4th) ; Army – 1-for-4 (1st) | |||||
| Officials: | Humberto Navarro, Ulrich Grude | |||||
Photo 1: University of Southern California’s Mitchell Fargo (#21) readies to fire a shot as the University of Southern California defense collapses around him; Photo 2: United State Military Academy’s Shelby Lee; Photo 3: University of Southern California’s Mitchell Fargo fires a shot as the United States Military’s Kyle Garwick (#6), Matthew Kim (#9), Seth Nordell (#3)
