Fourth-Quarter Flurry Propels St. Thomas to MCLA D-II Title

ROUND ROCK, Tex. — 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.

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 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 didn’t score again until there were nine seconds left in the game.

St. Thomas tied the score at 5 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 game, and Gelling converted his hat trick on a loose ball in front of the net to expand the lead 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. Tardich posted the hat trick for the Lakers, while Greene was credited with seven saves.