St. Thomas advances with win over Davenport
By Tim Haslam
(Photo Credit Ben Haslam)
Commerce City, Colorado (May 14,2010) – No. 1 St. Thomas advanced to the MCLA National Championship game after beating No. 5 Davenport by the score of 17-9.
Davenport scored first after 5 minutes of long possessions from both teams. Junior attackmen Shawn Beer scored after a text book fast break. Davenport picked up a ground ball near midfield, took it down, passed it to the point attackmen, who dished it to the attackmen on the right side of the crease who quick sticked to Beer. Beer didn’t waste any time, bouncing it past St. Thomas goalie Tom Thone. 
St. Thomas answered just 13 seconds later on a backhanded goal by Senior attackmen Jason King. Davenport then went on a three goal run to end the first quarter with the score of 4-1 in favor of Davenport.
The Tommies scored two goals in the beginning of the second quarter to cut the Davenport lead to one goal, however, Davenport answered with two goals of their own within a minute. St. Thomas got hot and scored four goals to close the half with a one goal lead.
St. Thomas carried their momentum out of the locker room and scored two more goals before the game was delayed due to lightning. An hour later, play resumed. Davenport and St. Thomas traded goals to close out the third quarter with the score 12-8 in favor of St. Thomas. The Tommies scored five goals in the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach.
St. Thomas was led by Junior attackmen Joe Costello who finished with 5 goals. Costello’s two goals in the second quarter provided a spark for the Tommies that carried them past Davenport.
“He just ran by guys,” said St. Thomas Head Coach Pete Moosbrugger, talking about Costello. “He dug down and found a way to make it happen.”
St. Thomas will play Utah Valley in the MCLA Championship Division II game tomorrow at 4 pm. St. Thomas will be looking to repeat and win back-to-back titles.
