The men’s lacrosse team beat Davenport University Friday afternoon 17-9 to advance to the Division III national championship in Denver.

“It’s undescribable,” junior Joe McCullagh said. “Everyone was going crazy in the locker room.”

Junior Joey Costello led the Tommie offensive attack with four goals, and junior Cooper Mazon and sophomore Tony Sadder each had four goals to contribute to the Tommie scoring buffet.

“My guy played off of me and the defense played me pretty soft,” Costello said. “A lot of them were just broken situations.”

Costello was confident he hadn’t used up all of his goals before the championship game. “I’ve got plenty of shots left for tomorrow,” he said.

Davenport jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first quarter, but St. Thomas broke things open in the second quarter with six goals to take a 7-6 lead into halftime. After a half hour weather delay, the game turned into what senior Dayne Smith described as “a dogfight.” Hail and lightning moved in throughout the afternoon, but St. Thomas was a force of its own on the field.

The Tommies scored 10 second half points to close out the Panthers, slamming the door on Davenport’s season and moving on to its second straight national championship appearance.

“We’re trying to establish a dynasty here,” Costello said.

No. 3 Utah Valley University will try to knock off the defending champion Tommies Saturday at 3 p.m.

“If we can just stick to the game plan we’re going to be fine,” Costello said. “We’ve got great players.”

Jordan Osterman can be reached at jrosterman@stthomas.edu.