Westminster College stunned Colorado Mesa University 9-8 in the RMAC Championship game on Saturday night a game that went to overtime and almost saw a second, but the Griffins scored with 28 seconds left in OT.
The four-minute overtime was fought extremely hard by both teams, and both goalies saw three shots, but only one was on goal. With 35 seconds left in overtime, Edwards made a big save for the Griffins and got the ball up the field quickly, leading to Chance Beutler scoring off a fast-break to win the game.
“I think it was a good game and both teams played really well, it’s unfortunate to say but they were the better team in the game,” Head Coach Vince Smith said. “They deserved it, they did a really great job this year, and they made a few more plays when they needed to make them, versus our not making those plays when we need to make them.”
The Griffins scored first in the game, but the Mavericks were quick to answer with two goals of their own to give them their first lead of the game. WC jumped back on top with a three-goal run due to CMU’s four turnovers in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Griffins scored two goals to increase their lead, but the Mavericks responded with two of their own goals to bring the game back within two going into halftime. Both teams cleared The Griffins won one more groundball in the quarter winning the ground ball battle 12-11.
“We told them to just keep playing and try to get the fifth, sixth, and seventh goal, and execute a little better on offense and defense, and I think that’s what we did but it just didn’t go our way,” Coach Smith said.
Coming out of halftime, the Mavericks came out energized and determined to take control of the game and did just that, as they wouldn’t allow a single goal in the third. Moreover, they scored three goals for themselves to take the lead again, led by senior midfielders Brandon Wilson and Jack Griffin.
Griffin scored the first goal of the fourth quarter on a man-up opportunity, but WC tied the game up with goals from Blake Gross and Nick Marcy. The Griffins won the ground ball battle in this quarter 5-4 as they clawed their way back to force a tie at the end of regulation.
Both CMU and WC would go back and forth until the very last play of the game when CMU missed their last shot and eventually lead to the Beutler fast break and goal.
The Griffins goaltender Sean Edwards had 18 saves in the game, and he was the difference in the game for Westminster.
“I think we face offed well, I think defensively we did a good job defending the short-stick today, most of their goals came on skip passes over the defense, where our goalie had to turn and make the save” Coach Smith said “I think our goaltending was good today, and I think we out ground balled them, so there were a lot of positives, it just didn’t bounce our way.”
CMU caused eight turnovers in the game and only gave the ball away times.
Wilson led the Mavericks in scoring with two goals and two assists, followed by Griffin with three goals and junior attackman/midfielder Joe Wulforst IV had one goal and two assists in the game.
