UST’s Vijums Has Commanding Performance

ATLANTA – After helping the Tommies rally from a late deficit and beat No. 3 North Dakota State, St. Thomas senior attackman Alex Vijums has earned MCLA Division II Commanding Performance of the Week powered by Under Armour for the period ending Feb. 24.

With St. Thomas trailing by three goals with 57 seconds left in the game, Vijums capped an epic comeback with his fifth goal of the game to tie the contest at 13 apiece with 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

The two teams battled to a scoreless first overtime period before Vijums struck for the game-winner in double overtime, sending the Tommies home with a 14-13 revenge win. St. Thomas lost to the Bison in double overtime in the 2018 national championship game.

The Mounds View, Minn., product finished the afternoon with six goals and an assist.

“Without question he’s one of our leaders,” said St. Thomas coach Brian Gross. “As a senior captain, he set the tone [against NDSU]. Obviously, a lot of it was in the areas that show up on the stat sheet, but he also rode tenaciously and gave us several extra possessions, which was a huge boost to both our offense and defense in such a hard-fought game.”

For his efforts in earning the Commanding Performance of the Week powered by Under Armour, Vijums will receive a new Under Armour Command Head – a $100 value. Under Armour is the proud sponsor of the MCLA.

Under Armour Honor Roll

Ben Lyon, Fr. – UNC-Charlotte
The 49ers split games against Kennesaw State and Georgia Southern, helped by the play of Lyon, who finished with 11 goals and an assists in the two games.

Hank Ontiveros, Soph. – College of Idaho
The Wagner transfer went 17-for-17 on faceoffs in rout of Gonzaga while gobbling up 16 ground balls, scoring four goals and setting up three others.

Ryan Pasinski, Sr. – North Florida
In a weekend sweep of Florida Atlantic and St. Louis, the attackman amassed seven goals and two assists for the Ospreys.

Cameron Pfister, Jr. - Northern Arizona
In pair of wins for the Lumberjacks, Pfister dominated at the X, going a combined 34-for-41 (82.9%) against Biola and Cal State Channel Islands.

Kyle Rodney, Jr. – UC Santa Cruz
In a pair of ranked wins over No. 18 UC San Diego and No. 10 Cal State San Marcos, Rodney combined for seven goals and two assists.

Sam Venette, Jr. – Texas A&M-Galveston
The Sea Aggies ran their winning streak to five thanks to the versatile middie who went 52-for-62 (83.9%) at the dot while also scoring 14 goals and dishing out 10 assists in two victories.