ROUND ROCK, Texas – Dayton’s Jake Meyer scored his second goal of the game off a feed from Connor Casey with 1:26 left to lift the Flyers to an 11-10 comeback victory against Air Force in the first Division II semifinal of the 2023 MCLA National Championships presented by New Balance.

With the win, Dayton (12-5) advances to the championship game on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex against the winner of the St. Thomas-Cal State San Marcos contest.

The victory appeared to be highly improbable considering the game started out like it might be a Falcons rout.

Benjamin Morfit had a hat trick halfway through the first quarter as Air Force (12-2) breezed to a 5-0 lead after the first 15 minutes. Mark Tang opened up the second with his second of the day to balloon the advantage to 6-0.

Dayton finally broke through with a goal from Meyer less than 30 seconds later, and that seemed to lift the lid for the Flyers, as they tallied three markers in the span of 1:23. Dayton just kept going, finally tying the game with 4:49 left in the half on a cross-crease feed from Kyle Collett to Gavin Ward.

Tang would notch his hat trick with two minutes left in the half to give Air Force a 7-6 lead heading into the break.

The pace of play slowed at the start of the second with the two teams unable to find the net for the first eight and a half minutes.

Jonathan Abbarno finally evened for Dayton on a drive to the net before Aidan Kelly took a feed from Ben Hadley and stung the back of the net for an 8-7 lead with 5:12 left in the third.

Air Force’s Jacob Freeman netted his second of the day off a dish from Morfit to once again tie the affair at eights heading into the final frame.

The two teams traded a pair of goals each over the course of the fourth quarter, setting the stage for Meyer to deliver the winner.

Matt Cesario and Abbarno led the way for Dayton with a hat trick apiece. Tucker Hoffmann had eight saves to pick up the victory in net.

Tang and Morfit each finished with four goals and an assist for the Falcons while Trey Curtis was credited with seven saves.

This will be Dayton’s fourth appearance in the championship game. The Flyers won the title in 2015 when they beat Concordia.