PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Seth Hughes (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) scored three times to claim Player of the Game laurels as Rocky Mountain Division Champion/No. 5-ranked the University of Utah built an early lead against Florida Division Champion/No. 8 the University of Florida and kept the Gators at bay the rest of the way to claim a 9-6 win in the 2019 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship quarterfinals.
- Competing at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool, the Utes never trailed to edge Florida and punch Utah’s ticket to a tournament semifinal game at 6:20 p.m. against the victor of a quarterfinal clash between Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 3 the University of Southern California and Mid-Atlantic Division Champion/No. 19 Pennsylvania State University.
- Florida will take on the fallen from the Trojans/Nittany Lions game at 7:30 p.m. with a spot in the Fifth Place game.
- The 2018 National Collegiate Club Championship runner-up, Utah never trailed against Florida by opening up a 2-0 lead with 4:45 left in the opening frame prior to exiting the first quarter with a 3-1 margin.
- The Gators pulled within one twice in the second quarter as Florida clipped its deficit back to 3-2 (6:46) and 4-3 (3:36), but a pair of scores from Sam Huff (Sr., Salt Lake City) (2:21) and Hughes (35 seconds) widened the lead to 6-3 heading into halftime.
- Florida’s Ben Phillips (Orlando, Fla.) (6:09) and Utah’s Kevin Anderson (So., Salt Lake City, Utah) (3:45) narrowed and expanded the lead to 6-4 and 7-4, respectively, in the third quarter.
- The Gators attempted another comeback to start the fourth quarter as Parker Strickman (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) slipped in a shot with 6:48 remaining in regulation to shrink Florida’s deficit to 7-5.
- However, Utah put the contest away as Huff and Hughes heaved in man-up chances at 4:27 and 1:19, respectively, to make the score 9-5. Rico Martinez (Boca Raton, Fla.) delivered an answer to the pair of power-play points by lining in an even-strength strike with 15 ticks remaining to establish the 9-6 final score.
- For Utah, Hughes (three), Anderson (two) and Huff (two) all notched multi-goal games, while Tristan Spoerri (Jr., Kearns, Utah) and Adam Parkinson (Jr., Salt Lake City, Utah) posted single tallies. Goalie Ryan Candlish (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) turned away 10 scoring tries between the pipes in taking the win.
- Strickman keyed the Gators with a pair of markers, while Luke MacDonald (Orlando, Fla.), John Nieves (Miami, Fla.), Clancy Short (Goshen, Ind.) and Martinez each accounted for single goals.
- Gators’ goalie Corby Bertolett (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) made 11 saves in taking the loss.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 8 University of Florida | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | – | 6 |
| No. 5 University of Utah | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | – | 9 |
| Utah Goals: | Seth Hughes (3); Kevin Anderson (2); Sam Huff (2); Tristan Spoerri; Adam Parkinson | |||||
| Florida Goals: | Parker Strickman (2); Luke MacDonald; John Nieves; Clancy Short; Rico Martinez | |||||
| Saves: | Utah – Ryan Candlish (10) ; Florida – Corby Bertolett (11) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Utah – 5 ; Florida – 14 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Utah – 4-for-14 ; Florida – 1-for-5 | |||||
| Sprints: | Utah – 0-for-4 ; Florida – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Jason Grubb; Steve Sargalski | |||||
University of Utah’s Seth Hughes (#13) fires a shot as the University of Florida’s John Nieves (#7) defends
University of Florida’s Clancy Short (#18) shoots over a charging Seth Hughes (#13)
University of Utah’s Seth Hughes (#13) attempts to prevent a shot by the University of Florida’s Clancy Short (#18)
