Pensacola, FL – Goalie
Michael Toohey netted a career-high and Cumberlands NAIA Tournament record 20 saves to lead the third-seed Patriots to 14-8 win over sixth-seed Concordia in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Invitational Tournament, Wednesday afternoon. With the win UC improves to 13-5 on the year, which ties the program record for wins in a season, while the Cardinals move to 15-3.
Toohey notched 20 saves in the win, including seven in the third quarter, to go along with two caused turnovers.
Tanner Popovich led the way for UC with two goals, four assists, and six points while
Christian Vanover tallied three goals and two assists.
Nick Kava tallied four points, including his first multi-assist game of the season, while
Chrystian Coleman extends his streak to seven straight games with a point.
Gabe Schwaiger and Popovich each tallied a pair of caused turnovers in the win.
Both teams came out looking to gain the early advantage, however, UC struck first as Kava found
Dom Lulow, who put a well-placed shot into the cage with 9:07 remaining. Concordia answered before Kava found Coleman in transition for a goal to make it 2-1 in favor of the Patriots. The Cardinals scored two of the next three goals, however, in the closing seconds of the first quarter, Popovich connected with Vanover for a goal to make it 4-3.
Just over a minute into the second quarter, Vanover found Kava cutting towards the cage for a goal to extend the lead to 5-3. Toohey added three saves while the two teams traded goals before Vanover found Popovich, who ripped a shot into the upper corner of the cage to make it 7-4 UC with 6:06 remaining. Toohey added three more saves as Cumbeerlands took the 7-4 advantage at the break.
Concordia came out of the break strong with two goals in a three-minute span, to cut the lead to 7-6. From that point the Patriots took over, as Toohey notched six saves while UC added three straight goals. Vanover started the scoring as
Dawson Coltran added a goal at the 2:33 mark. In the closing seconds of the quarter,
Evan Barton connected with Lulow for a goal to make it 10-6.
The two teams traded goals to open the fourth quarter before
Maalek Wilson sent a pass to
Johnathon Vanover, who dodged towards the cage and put it home to make it 12-7 midway through the period. Minutes later, Popovich netted an unassisted goal and in the closing seconds of the game Vanover added a late goal for the 14-8 final.
Cumberlands advances to the semifinals where they will face the winner of #2 Indiana Tech and #7 Siena Heights on Thursday, May 11, at 8 p.m.
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