Grand Valley's Zach Heathman (#7) and Utah's Matt Clark (#2) go for the ball

TUCSON, ARIZONA - Zach Heathman (Jr., Grandville, MI) scored six goals and handed out two assists to earn Player of the Game honors and lead #2 seed Grand Valley State University to a 16-10 victory over #15 the University of Utah in the opening round of the 2007 National Collegiate Club Tournament at the University of Arizona.

The Lakers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead behind a pair of goals by Nenad Ciric (So., Belgrade, Serbia) as he lobbed a shot over Utah goalie Sam Thomas (So., Salt Lake, UT) at 3:43 on a counter and skipped a shot inside the far post at 3:05. Chris Posthumus (Gr., Grandville, MI) closed out the spurt at 2:23 as he accepted a pass from Ciric and drilled a goal into the twine from two-meters.

Utah closed the gap as Justin Crump (Sr., Kearns, UT) connected on a penalty shot at 2:07 of the first period and Victor Gappmaier (Jr., Sandy, UT) skipped a shot into the cage at 6:07 of the second period to pull the Utes to within 3-2.

However, Heathman came alive in the second period scoring three goals and dishing out an assist to highlight a six goal run by the Lakers to the halftime horn as the Lakers carried a 9-2 lead into halftime.

Leading 5-2 after goals by Posthumus and Josh Ensing (Fr., Zeeland, MI) at 5:36 and 4:54 on exlcusion chances, respectively, Heathman took over the game whipping a pass to Andrew Ornee (Jr., Zeeland, MI) at 3:22 for a 6-2 lead. The remainder of the half was all Heathman as he finished a feed from Steve Weaver (Sr., Marshall, WI) at 2:52, raced down the pool to take a pass from Posthumus at 1:32 following an exclusion and rocketed in a penalty shot with eight seconds left in the second period for a seven goal advantage at the break.

The run was too much for Utah to overcome as the team's traded goals in the second half as the Lakers rolled to the six goal victory.

In goal, Peter Huyser (So., Zeeland, MI) made eight saves for GVSU, while Utah's Thomas blocked away six.

Grand Valley will continue the tournament at 11:20 a.m. on November 10 versus the winner of a first-round game between Texas A&M University and Miami University (OH), while Utah will take on the loser of the Texas A&M-Miami game at 8:40 p.m. this evening.

Grand Valley Goals -- Zach Heathman (6); Chris Posthumus (4); Nenad Ciric (3); Andrew Ornee; Josh Geneva; Josh Ensing

Utah Goals -- Elliott Sorenson (3); Justin Crump (2); Jeff Livingston; Brent Weldon; Victor Gappmaier

Grand Valley Assists -- Nenad Ciric (2); Zach Heathman (2); Chris Posthumus; Steve Weaver; Derek Zokoe

Utah Assists -- None

Saves: Grand Valley - Peter Huyser (8) ; Utah - Sam Thomas (6)

Ejections: Grand Valley - 5; Utah - 8

Sprints: Grand Valley - 0 ; Utah - 4