Preview: Division I Final

(Photo by Lance Wendt)

by E.J. Freeman | MCLA.us

RICHMOND- The Beehive meets the Commonwealth on Saturday as Brigham Young and Virginia Tech will meet at 11:00 am EDT to determine the 2026 MCLA Division I National Champion. 

Brigham Young has overwhelmed their last two opponents turning not quite comfortable leads into full-blown routs in the second half.  Against Florida State Mason Quick scored ten points on eight goals and two assists and joined a logjam tie for third place all-time for points in a Division I Tournament game.  The Cougars offense has been playing with dizzying speed for the last two games and left their opponents’ heads spinning.  The Cougars, after a slow start against Michigan State in round one, have looked every bit the part of the favorite in the last two games.  The long Cougars defenders have clamped down on strong offenses from both Georgia and Florida State in their last two games.  Once their opponents do create a good look for themselves, they are staring down Easton Wilkey in goal who is another formidable obstacle between them and a goal.   The Cougars bring a daunting combination of a bruising defense and an offense with lightning quick ball movement.

Virginia Tech on the other hand just keeps making the plays they need to in order to win the game.  They were down early against South Carolina and again late, but scored to force overtime.  Defenseman Christian Edwards made a remarkable play in overtime to force a turnover that led directly to the odd man situation where Jacob Blibaum got all the way to the goal and scored the game winning goal.  In the semifinals the Hokies coughed up a six goal lead in the fourth quarter allowing Utah Valley to tie the game.  This time it was Austin Ashley with eight seconds left who scored after running from the wing to behind the goal and turned the corner before scoring.  The Hokies dominated possession through the middle portion of the game behind stellar play from faceoff specialist Jack McKenzie and as such were able to hold the Wolverines scoreless for over 30 minutes of gameplay.  Utah Valley finally found some life in the third quarter when they went back to their roots and implemented their ten-man ride.  The Hokies who see a different version of the ride each year looked uncomfortable and turned the ball over multiple times.  Brigham Young has not been running the ten-man ride extensively this season, but have in recent years and it would not surprise me to see them spring it situationally to see if they can force some turnovers from the Hokies.  If McKenzie is dominant at the faceoff dot again I think the likelihood of this approach skyrockets.  

Virginia Tech wants to play a more settled game and while Brigham Young also has confidence in their settled game, the Cougars are more willing to get up and down the field.  It feels as though, if the Hokies are to win this game, they need a slower more methodical pace and to be razor sharp on both ends and as such the game would likely be fairly close.  The Cougars feel as though they can win by playing an up and down game and daring the Hokies to keep up or by being more efficient in their settled sets.  Either team can win, but the Cougars seem to have more avenues to get there.  If the game is tight at the end it feels as though the Hokies will make the play that they need.