No. 2 University of California-San Diego Edges No. 5 University of Utah 15-13 in Overtime to Claim Third Place Game at 2019 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Gonzalo Rivera (So., Madrid, Spain) scored three times in overtime as Southwest Division Champion/No. 2-ranked the University of California-San Diego went the distance to overcome Rocky Mountain Division Champion/No. 5 University of Utah, 15-13, to claim the 2019 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Third Place game at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.

• Tied at 10-all through the conclusion of regulation, UCSD pulled ahead 12-10 in the first three-minute overtime period as Gonzalo Rivera (2:35) and Andrew Burda (So., Palos Verdes, Calif.) (1:06) buried back-to-back chances to push the Tritons out to a 12-10 lead.
• Utah rallied back as Kevin Anderson (So., Salt Lake City, Utah) put away an even-strength opportunity with 49 seconds on the clock prior to Markus Foote (Gr., San Jose, Calif.) delivering an equalizer by converting on a man-up bid with 15 ticks remaining to deadlock the teams at 12-all.
• Utah went ahead 13-12 37 seconds into the second OT period as Seth Hughes (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) netted a marker at 2:23, but Gonzalo Rivera (1:31, even-strength; one second, man-up) and Burda (43 seconds, even-strength) closed out the game with back-to-back-to-back goals as UC-San Diego rallied for the win.
• UC-San Diego, which previously finished Ninth (2013) and Fifth (2018) at the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship, led throughout much of regulation before the Utes surged in the fourth quarter to force OT.
• Trailing 2-0, 5-4 and 8-7 at the conclusion of the first, second and third quarters, respectively, Utah finally pulled even with the Tritons at the 5:54 mark of the fourth quarter as Sam Huff (Sr., Salt Lake City, Utah) found the back of the cage with a sinking shot.  UC-San Diego regained the lead at 9-8 via a volley by Andrew Schade (So., Solano Beach, Calif.) with 5:41 remaining, but consecutive strikes by Huff (4:34, even-strength) and Hughes (3:38, man-up) gave Utah its first lead at 10-9.
• Trailing for the first time in the game, UC-San Diego responded to the pressure as Burda bounded in a power-play chance with 3:14 left in the fourth quarter.  Neither team was able to add to its total in regulation to force overtime.
• For UC-San Diego, Burda (five), Gonzalo Rivera (three), Schade (three) and Graham McClone (Gr., Placerville, Calif.) (two) registered multi-goal games.  Malachi Sanders (So., San Diego, Calif.) and Jordi Rivera (So., Madrid, Spain) chipped in solo tallies, while goalie Sachin Okuma (Jr., Santa Ana, Calif.) stopped six shots.
• Anderson (four), Huff (three), Hughes (three) and Foote (two) combined to account for 12 of Utah’s goals with Adam Parkinson (Jr., Salt Lake City, Utah) tacking on one tally.  Ryan Candlish (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) took the loss in cage with seven stops.
• The Fourth Place finish adds to Utah’s legacy of success at the National Collegiate Club Championship as the team previously finished Second (2018), Fourth (2012), Seventh (2009) and Ninth (2007, 2014).

University of Utah’s Tyler Richards (#16) closes on defense

University of Utah’s Sam Huff (#8) defends University of California-San Diego’s Malachi Sanders (#8)

The University of Utah’s Colin Oneil (#18) tries to get around the University of California-San Diego’s Graham McClone (#3)