Waldorf Athletics
Mike Stetson, Sports Information Director

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Warrior hockey team gave itself a chance to win, but couldn’t finish off the Blue Devils as Lawrence Tech scored a pair of third-period goals for a 5-3 win to open the round-robin portion of the NAIA National Tournament on Thursday.

Down a pair of goals early in the second period, Waldorf came charging back, scoring twice in a minute and 12 seconds, grabbing momentum in the contest.

Braedan Pearce put the Warriors (5-19-2) on the board, scoring his team-leading 12th of the year as he finished off assists from Jacob Davis and Sean Teske with 4:05 gone in the second period.

Parker Todd then scored his first goal as a Warrior just 1:12 later, tying the game and shifting the momentum of the contest to Waldorf’s bench. Sean Mallonee and Tristan Klewsaat set up Todd’s game-tying goal.

Riding that momentum, the Warriors took the lead when Mallonee moved into a share of the team scoring lead, netting his 12th of the season, an unassisted goal with 4:56 left in the second period.

Poised to open nationals with a win, Waldorf just couldn’t finish off the victory as Lawrence Tech tied it with 1:22 left in a busy second period, then 3:06 into the final stanza the Blue Devils netted what proved to be the game winner.

The Blue Devils added an insurance goal with 12:32 left to ice the win.

Jeffrey Veitch finished with 30 saves in goal for the Warriors, who look to bounce back Friday in their second game of the round-robin portion of the tournament when they play Indiana Tech at 1 p.m.