CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Vikings (3-4, 1-2) dropped a hard-fought 14-12 battle against No. 10 Jacksonville (8-1, 3-0) on Wednesday afternoon in the Krenzler Bubble.
The Dolphins wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Jackson Intrieri scored just 32 seconds into the contest. Cleveland State evened the game at the 13:00 mark on an Amiri Austin unassisted goal.
The Vikings went ahead for the first time with 11:37 remaining as Xander Johnson scored off a pass from Andrew Boniface. The Green and White extended their lead to 4-1 with 1:54 left as Gavin Held and Austin each found the back of the net. However, Jacksonville tallied a goal with just one second left to trail 4-2.
A man-up goal by Michael Care bumped the advantage to 5-2 with just 57 seconds coming off the clock in the second quarter. Back-to-back tallies by the Dolphins brought the visitors to within a goal with 7:13 to go in the first half.
With three ticks remaining in the opening half, Johnson found the back of the net off a pass from Gannon Matthews to lead 6-4 at the break.
The Dolphins ran off three unanswered goals to open the second half, reclaiming their first lead since the opening minute of the contest, 7-6, with 8:50 left in the third quarter.
Connor Zwagerman briefly halted the run with an unassisted goal at the 4:35 mark before Jacksonville ended the quarter with three unanswered goals to lead 10-7.
Jacksonville tacked on two more goals to claim their largest lead of the game, 12-7, with 13:20 to go in regulation. An unassisted goal by Matthews with 12:15 showing brought the deficit down to four.
The visitors struck again with 10:33 to play, but Matthews answered with a goal just 25 seconds later to trail 13-9. One minute later, Johnson completed his hat-trick off a feed from Brendan Sigurdson to get within three. Austin then completed his hat-trick at the 4:50 mark off an assist from Matthews as the Vikings trailed 13-11.
The Dolphins halted the blitz with an unassisted goal with 3:30 left, increasing their advantage to 14-11. Gavin Held scored a man-up goal with 1:08 to play off a pass from Sigurdson to make it a two-goal game, but Cleveland State was unable to get any closer, falling to the tenth-ranked team, 14-12.
Cameron Logan made 19 saves and picked up a team-best five ground balls. In the faceoff circle, Charlie Williams went 8-of-17 and Evan Moskwa was 5-of-7.
Matthews finished with a team-best four points on two goals and two assists. Austin and Johnson each finished with three goals.
The Green and White remain home to take on Air Force Saturday, Feb. 1 at 12 p.m. in an ASUN contest.
