Dayton scored the first six goals of the game and held off former national champion North Dakota State for an 11-9 win in the first Division II semifinal at the 2019 MCLA National Championships powered by Under Armour.
Dayton (12-3) advances to the championship game on Saturday at 11 a.m. against the winner of the St. Thomas-College of Idaho winner. This is the Flyers first visit to the title game since 2015, when they won their first title.
Sam White scored two goals and dished an assist in the first quarter to spark Dayton to a 6-0 lead after one period. North Dakota State (7-8) snapped awake in the second quarter, scoring six goals to cut the margin to 8-6 at the half. Anthony Banack had two goals and a dime during the Bison run.
NDSU continued its march in the third quarter, narrowing the gap to 9-8 as Banack completed his hat trick. Dayton opened the fourth quarter with goals from John McGovern and Joe Horvat to push the lead to 11-8 and stop any comeback chances.
White finished with three goals and two assists while Ean Cafaro had two goals and McGovern had three assists along with his goal. Mitch Nietupski had six saves in the win.
Banack’s hat trick led the Bison while Noah Orham made 10 saves.
Rewatch today’s game on our 2019 MCLA National Championships semifinal watch page here.
