by Matt Morrison | MCLA.us

No. 2 Cal Poly dethroned defending champion Grand Canyon, 10-8, in the Division I semifinals and now the Mustangs go for the crown Saturday against top-seeded Chapman at the 2016 MCLA National Championships powered by Under Armour.

Cal Poly played a poised and efficient game on both ends of the field, taking advantage of rare Grand Canyon mistakes while offering very few of their own.

“It feels good to beat a good team,” Mustangs' coach Bobby Dabrieo said. “And it feels good to be playing in the national championship game.”

The teams traded punches early before Cal Poly scored four straight goals in to the second period for a 6-2 lead. The Lopes scratched back to make it 6-4 at half and made up the difference in the third quarter to send it to the fourth tied at seven.

Another Mustang burst of three straight goals proved to be insurmountable as Cal Poly controlled the clock with each possession and the defense turned away all but one threat the Lopes could muster.

“We came in ready to play,” said Cal Poly sophomore attackman Ben Berkow. “We went hard, we knew they were going to be a good team.”

Berkow led all scorers with four goals. Five other Mustangs each scored single markers. Senior Dean Fairall paced Grand Canyon with three goals with Drew Dziadyk and Ryan McDonald contributing two apiece. Goaltenders Sean Pihl of Cal Poly and GCU’s Brandon Suchand each made 11 saves.

The Mustang victory avenges an earlier triple-overtime loss to the Lopes that stands as Cal Poly’s only blemish on its record.

“We’ve grown as a team in the games we’ve had since then,” Berkow explained. “We’ve been working real hard and we just wanted it more.”

“It’s a credit to these guys, buying into the system, buying into the scouting reports and doing what we tell them to do,” Dabrieo added. “It was a complete effort today and I couldn’t be happier.”

The opposite was apparent around the Grand Canyon bench after the Lopes came up one game short of playing for a second straight title.

“It’s not the game, it’s the goodbyes,” said a misty-eyed GCU coach Manny Rapkin. “Guys getting emotional and saying goodbye, it’s tough. This is affirmation for me that we did a good job this year.”

The Mustangs advance to the winner-take-all matchup of the tournament’s top two seeds. It’s Cal Poly’s second appearance in the finals while Chapman seeks its first championship in its third try.

“We’ve got our hands full,” Dabrieo said in assessing the Panthers. “They’re really good in all phases of the game. That’s the reason they’re undefeated – there’s a reason they’re the No. 1 seed.”