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The No. 13 ranked Air Force Falcons won their second straight home game as they defeated the No. 17 ranked UC Davis Aggies, 15-11. The win improved Air Force to 7-2 in WWPA and moved them into second place, overall the Falcons are 8-6.
The Falcons had a balanced attack where seven different players found the back of the net, senior Brad Rajchel led the team with four goals. The offense struck early and often, as Air Force scored goals on their first two possessions, and four overall to have a 4-1 lead after the first quarter. The only goal for UC Davis was a man-advantage goal early in the quarter.
The Aggies scored two goals in the first two minutes of the second period to make it a 4-3 game, but the Falcons quickly responded by scoring the next two goals in less than a minute. UC Davis was able to score on another power play to make it a 6-4 game, but once again the Air Force offense responded by scoring three goals in the final two minutes of the quarter. After two periods, Air Force held commanding a 9-4 lead.
Air Force looked to have this game nearly wrapped up, but once again UC Davis made the game interesting by scoring the first two goals of the third period. The Aggies nearly made it three in a row, but Falcons goalie Mike Fish came up huge as he blocked a five-meter penalty shot. Had that goal made it through the outcome of the game could have possibly changed.
The save by Fish sparked the Falcons offense as they went onto score two straight goals, including a five-meter penalty shot by Jantz Johnson. However, UC Davis would not give up as they ended the quarter by scoring two unanswered goals. Heading into the final quarter, Air Force had an 11-8 lead.
The Falcons scored the the first three goals of the period, including a 6-on-4 opportunity, to finally pull away as they led by six. That point was when the game was officially over, and UC Davis scored the final three goals of the game to make the score look closer than it really was.
Air Force is now very likely to finish either second or third in the WWPA. They have two wins over UC Davis, but they still have to play the best two teams in the league against Loyola Marymount and UC San Diego. However, they also have games against Pomona-Pitzer and Whittier, both of which should be wins.