WEST CHESTER, Pa. — The South Carolina athletics department has see national championships won on the track, the diamond and the court.
Now one has been earned on the ice.
The South Carolina hockey team captured the Amateur Athletic Union College Hockey Division One national championship with a 4-1 win over Buffalo Sunday afternoon at the Ice Line Quad Rinks in West Chester Pennsylvania.
Jake Puskar scored the first goal for the Garnet to tie the game at one before Johnny Riggins scored on a power play to give the team a 2-1 advantage.
Marco Pineda scored in the third period to give the Gamecocks a commanding 3-1 lead in the inaugural AAU national title game.
An open net goal in the final seconds would provide the final margin of victory for USC
The Collegiate Hockey Federation (CHF) and the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) are in a first-year partnership which has created AAU College Hockey, a new model of collegiate hockey in the United States which has the USC hockey team earning that inaugural national championship under this umbrella.