Duluth Shocks No. 1 Tommies

(Photo by Jeff Miller)

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minn.-Duluth sophomore Nicholas Timmons scored late in the fourth quarter, capping a 3-0 run to end the game and giving the 13th-ranked Bulldogs (7-5) a stunning, 10-9 victory over defending MCLA Division II champion St. Thomas (8-1) on Sunday afternoon.

It was the first loss for St. Thomas since the semifinals of the 2015 MCLA National Championship powered by Under Armour when they fell to eventual champion Dayton, 13-12, snapping a 26-game winning streak.

DAWGS WIN!!!!! 10-9!
— UMD Men's Lacrosse (@Duluthlacrosse) April 9, 2017

After Brian Tramonte gave Duluth the first lead of the game, the Tommies countered with four straight, capped off by a Jake Bauman strike. Andrew Greenlee pulled one back for the Bulldogs to narrow the lead to two, but St. Thomas tacked on two sores before the end of the first quarter to balloon the lead to 6-2.

Jacob Pitts and Tramonte opened the second quarter with back-to-back scores to pull Duluth back within a pair, 6-4, and the lead would still be a deuce at halftime, 7-5, in favor of the home squad.

The frenetic action of the first quarter was replaced with a more methodical pace in the second half as Duluth's defense found its footing. Pitts completed his hat trick by notching the only two scores of the third quarter to tie the game heading into the final stanza at sevens.

Jack Stanchfield and Bauman connected on consecutive goals to return a two-goal edge to St. Thomas and what appeared to be the final momentum needed to put the game away. But UMD wouldn't go away, setting up Timmons' heroics.