Seventh Heaven: St. Thomas Does It Again

(Photo by Lance Wendt)

ROUND ROCK, Texas – St. Thomas outscored Grand Valley State, 5-1, in the fourth quarter to break open a five-all tie to give the Tommies a 10-6 victory and the Division II title at the 2025 MCLA National Championship presented by New Balance.

With the victory, St. Thomas wins its seventh national title, breaking a tie with Colorado State for the most championships in MCLA history.

BOX SCORE

The game started quickly – Luke Tardich scored just 10 seconds in off a feed from faceoff man Alex Berris to give No. 2 Grand Valley State (15-2) the opening lead. St. Thomas (15-2) answered with two goals in three minutes, including the first of five goals from junior attackman Cam Gelling to snatch a 2-1 lead with 10:25 left in the first.

And then things slowed down considerably. The Lakers defense put the Tommies on lockdown, blanking St. Thomas for nearly 30 minutes of game time as they built a 4-2 lead heading into halftime.

Bryce Gordon scored with over a minute left in the first to tie the game before Tardich  opened the second with his second off a delightful crease feed from Ethan Mate. Jack Biron pushed the lead to 4-2 off a dish from Adam Verner with just three seconds left in the first half.

Aiden Hilger was finally able to crack the Grand Valley defense at the 11:47 mark of the third quarter on a dodge to the cage, cutting the lead to 4-3, but the Lakers answered just over a minute later. Middie Jack Gualtieri bullied his way past three St. Thomas defenders to balloon the lead back to two, 5-3.

Grand Valley wouldn’t score again until nine seconds left in the game.

St. Thomas would tie the game at fives before the end of the third. Gelling’s buried his second after splitting a double team before Layne Kology struck with five seconds left in the quarter on a brilliant backhand, no-look shot that beat Keegan Greene to the far side to knot it.

Jack Stone opened up the final frame with an off-hip laser to give the Tommies their first lead since five minutes into the start of the game and Gelling converted his hat trick on a loose-ball in front of the net to expand the bulge to 7-5 with 8:18 remaining. Ethan Buskey drove from behind the net to bounce one in to push the Tommies’ lead to 8-5.

Gelling built his tally to five goals with a pair of markers in the last three minutes to produce the 10-6 final.

Gelling’s five paced St. Thomas while five other players added a goal. Gunner Arens finished with 14 saves to pick up the victory in net. Tardich posted the hat trick for the Lakers while Greene was credited with seven saves.