Jackets Defeat Utah Valley Advance To MCLA Finals

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets faced off against the second seeded Utah Valley Wolverines on Thursday in the semi-finals of the MCLA National Championships.  The game was a rematch of a 2024 MCLA Quarterfinal game that saw wild runs with the Wolverines leading 12-1 at halftime before an 11 goal third quarter from the Jackets brought them back into the game.  The Wolverines eventually sent the Yellow Jackets home with an upset win.  This is the fifth time the two teams have matched up since 2020 with both teams winning twice.  

 

The game started out very similarly to the previous match up with the Wolverines getting a goal on the doorstep on the opening possession.  The Jackets had several good looks early, but just couldn't connect.  Utah Valley took advantage of the Jackets' failure to finish and added a second goal.  The Jackets who have faced deficits in several recent games were not deterred.  Freshman Carl Dagher dodged his man and fed fellow diaper dandy Augie Werthman who snapped a shot past the UVU keeper.  The Jacket defense stood tall for the next several minutes with Owen Armentrout making a number of saves after the defense funneled the ball away from the middle of the field. The Jackets made the Wolverines pay for committing a penalty when Pierce Quarles and Brooks Baro played catch on the bottom left corner and Baro turned the corner finishing on the inside pipe.   Two minutes later Baro added a second goal scoring through contact with a high bouncing shot as he dove to the ground.  The Jackets stacked possessions and were able to close the quarter with possession.  After milking some clock, Matt Seifert swept to the middle of the field and drew a slide before slipping a throwback pass to Pierce Quarles who hammered a shot into the net to give the Jackets a 4-2 lead after the first stanza.  

 

On the opening faceoff of the second quarter Charlie Ciardullo won the ball backwards to Mitch Savalli who move the ball across to Hudson Higgins and Higgins threw a long lead pass to Noah Stewart who pushed a fast break and took advantage of a Wolverine defense that was reluctant to slide of the Jacket attack firing a shot into the lower corner for his first career goal.  The Wolverines would not be deterred and they scored on their next possession to get back within two.  Carl Dagher took a long dodge against the UVU pressure defense and hit Andrew Belli on a throwback pass in the middle of the field and with a violent snapping of his hands Belli unleashed a shot off the goalie's hip to stretch the lead back to three.  Dagher got his third assist of the game on the next possession when he connected with Werthman again stretching the lead to four.  The Wolverines scored two goals in under a minute to cut the lead down to two.    At this point the Wolverines switched to a zone defense in an attempt to slow down the Jackets.  Over the next few possessions Tech got the looks they wanted, but was unable to finish.  The quality looks gave the Jackets confidence as they took a long possession before Pierce Quarles took advantage of a collapsing defense and found Matt Seifert on a skip who made a quick pass to Andrew Belli who then made a beautiful one more pass to a curling Brooks Baro who scored before the rotating defense could get to him.  The Wolverines scored the final goal of the first half to bring the score to 8-6.  Owen Armentrout closed the first half with eight saves.

 

The Wolverines turned a defensive stop into a fast break and scored the opening goal of the second half.  The Jackets would once again attack the UVU pressure with pressure when Hudson Higgins brought the ball across on a clear and fed Michael Grosso who slipped away from his defender who was trying to deny him the ball and Grosso ran down the heart of the defense before scoring.  Just over a minute later D.J. Louis got open in early offense and made an acrobatic catch on a feed from Andrew Belli  before scoring and falling in a heap just outside the crease eliciting an eruption from the Jacket bench.  Aaron Piszczek fired a rocket from 15 yards on a feed from Matt Seifert to put the Jackets ahead by three.  The Jackets got another transition goal from Baro to stretch the lead to four and seize the momentum in the game grabbing a four goal lead.  UVU continued to pressure and the Jackets continued to turn it against them when Pierce Quarles drew his man away from the goal and then ran past him right to the goal to put the Jackets up 13-8.  The Wolverines would not let the Jackets get too far away and they answered right back.  The Jackets lead 13-9 entering the fourth quarter.  Everyone knew the final frame would not be easy with both teams fighting to get the win and continue their season.  

 

The Wolverines would open the fourth quarter scoring two goals in the first 90 seconds of the quarter to change the tenor of the game.  Rather than tightening up, the Jackets as they've done several times bowed their backs and went to work.