(Photo by Brian Baer)

SAN DIEGO - In a back-and-forth affair, Sonoma squeaked out a 13-12 overtime win against Minnesota in a neutral site game held at San Diego State on Sunday.

The Gophers raced out to a 3-1 lead to start the game with the Seawolves lone tally coming from Hayden Dall ('21).

The Gophers executed their ride well and caused numerous turnovers, stretching their two-goal lead to three at the half, 6-3.

The Seawolves got goals from Conor Stinde ('20) and John Beglin ('20). Defensively the Seawolves were paced by goalie Andrew Moore ('21), who made four big saves.

The second half started and the Seawolves struck first with a goal from Joey Piombo ('20), however the Gophers kept battling and stretched their lead to 9-4 towards the end of the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter faceoff man Kieran Fara ('21) won four draws to end the quarter and the Seawolves capitalized with two goals from Dall, one from Angelo Lagomarsino ('19) and another from Trent Jones ('22). The Gophers lead 9-8 going into the fourth, which was shaping up to be a battle.

The final frame started off with a Gophers goal, but the Seawolves would not be denied. A few timely stops by the defense and goalie Jackson Feinstein ('21) held the Gophers in check. Meanwhile, goals from Brent Tovrea ('19), Piombo, and Chase Barloga ('22) gave the Seawolves their first lead of the game at 11-10.

As the quarter came to a close, both defenses held strong, but the offense scored a few more, knotting the game at 12 as regulation time ended.

In the overtime period, Fara won the opening face, but Gophers defense held. With the Gophers on offense and shot clock time winding down, a well-timed slide forced a turnover and Sonoma clear.

The offense worked patiently, but with just 20 seconds left in the quarter Dall took a hard dodge and roll to stick a back-handed shot to win the game for the Seawolves with just two seconds left in the overtime period.

"This team never stopped battling." said Sonoma coach Panchito Ojeda. "Fara came up huge at the X, but it was the blue collar mentality that lead to a team effort in earning that victory. We needed players to make plays and that is what happened all over the field, but particularly Dall. Our goalies came up huge in critical moments and allowed the offense an opportunity to win the game."

The Seawolves are now 2-0 on their spring break trip and head to play No. 3 Concordia-Irvine on Tuesday at 1 p.m.