COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Dylan Duke (Strongsville, Ohio) scored a short-handed goal early in the first and gave the U.S. National Under-18 Team the early lead against their first DI opponent of the season. 

Despite a couple great Gibson Homer (Grand Rapids, Mich.) saves and several power play opportunities, Air Force was able to keep the U18 team to one first period goal, while also adding one of their own to make it 1-1 through 17 minutes.

The second period saw four goals between both teams, three of those being by Air Force. The first five minutes of the period saw the Falcons capitalize off a deflection and a 3-on-2 opportunity to go up 3-1.

The Under-18 Team was able to stop the momentum slightly when Jack Hughes (Westwood, Mass.) fed the puck deep into the attacking zone to Red Savage (Scottsdale, Ariz.) who was alone with the goalie and able to put the puck in the back of the net, making it a 3-2 game.

Air Force tallied their final goal of the period with four minutes remaining, a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Homer, to make it a 4-2 game going into the second intermission. 

As the third period got underway, neither team was able to capitalize off various opportunities, until a great feed from Savage led to a beautiful goal from Justin Janicke (Maple Grove, Minn.) with just five minutes left in regulation. More scoring ensued a minute later when Jack Devine (Glencoe, Ill.) scored on a 1-on-3 to tie the game at 4 a piece. 

This game then went scoreless in overtime, and went to a shootout to decide the winner. After a miss from Duke, Ryan St. Louis (Riverside, Conn.) and Luke Hughes (Canton, Mich.) were able to convert and give the U18s a 2-1 shootout win, and a 5-4 Team USA victory. 

The U18s continue their Kroger College Series against the Falcons again Sunday in the final contest of the two-game series between the two teams. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the game can be streamed live on FloHockey.