NORCO, Calif. (Dec. 18, 2021) – After winning three pool-play matches by a combined four points on the opening day of the USA Ultimate Division III Championships, fourth-seeded Oklahoma Christian looked for a breakout match on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals.

Kyle Henke and the Eagles delivered, scoring an early break against sixth-seeded Whitman (Wash.) and never trailing while rolling to a 15-11 win over the Sweets at SilverLakes Sports Complex.

OC, making its first appearance in the national tournament in the club program's third season of existence, will face top-seeded Richmond (Va.) in the semifinals on Sunday at 4:45 p.m. Central time (2:45 p.m. Pacific), with the winner advancing to Monday's national-title match.

Richmond's Spidermonkeys have allowed only 21 goals in their four national-tournament matches and rolled past No. 10 seed Berry (Ga.) 15-7 in another quarterfinal. Richmond won the 2017 Division III title.

Henke scored seven of the Eagles' 15 goals against Whitman. That included the goal that put OC ahead for good at 3-2, after which he stared down a defender. The Sweets promptly turned it over on their next possession and OC took advantage, earning a break when Javin Smith's throw hit Emmanuel Kameri in stride for a goal.

Henke scored the next goal, on a throw from Kameri, to give OC a 5-2 lead. The Eagles recorded another break when Kameri laid out to block a Whitman throw, and then scored on the next play when Roberts found Henke open for a clap-catch goal to make it 7-3. The Eagles never led by fewer than three goals after that.

Even when the Eagles made the occasional offensive mistake, it worked out for them. Up 9-5, Elliott Moore appeared to overthrow Jonathan Costello, but Costello managed to track it down for a goal, one of his three in the match.

Whitman's Corbin Atack had two goals and six assists. He assisted on a goal by Leo Dungan-Seaver, then had a block that led to the Sweets' only break of the match, which pulled them within 13-10. But after an OC timeout, Moore hit Kevin van Roosmalen for a goal to make it 14-10.

Whitman held to close within 14-11 before Michael Paniagua finished the match by assisting on the winning goal by Moore. Moore finished with two goals.

The other semifinal on Sunday will pit second-seeded St. Olaf (Minn.) against third-seeded Middlebury (Vt.).

Read the Ultiworld post-match story here.