The Pioneer men’s lacrosse season came to a grinding halt Saturday when the team lost to the Maryland Terrapins 16-8.
The Terrapins will face the Princeton Tigers at Towson University May 21 in the NCAA quarterfinals as they continue their run at the championship. The Terrapins held the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament while Denver was No. 12.
The game was played at Byrd Stadium in Maryland. The Pioneers struggled on the road this year going 0-5 against non-conference foes; however, DU did win its last three road games of the regular season against conference opponents helping team string together seven straight wins,. a streak the Pioneers were unable to keep alive in Maryland.
The Pioneers were outshot 40-22 by the Terrapins and DU only had one shot in the first quarter and only three in the third; which was uncharacteristic of this offensively potent team that over the course of the regular season averaged 39.5 shots a game. Denver’s opponents also averaged only 30.1 shots a game and only 7.74 goals a game during the season.
The Pioneers fell behind 6-0 by the end of the first quarter and were unable to climb out of the hole they had dug. To start the second quarter Adam Goodwin got Denver on the board closely followed by a goal from Joe Murray. However just as Denver started to get its momentum the Terrapins rattled off three goals to close the half and then opened the second half with three unanswered goals to make the score 12-2 with 7:35 left in the third quarter. Denver then tried to mount one last comeback stringing together three goals in a row. Brett Koll got the first with 5:33 left in the quarter and then less than a minute later Joe Murray got his second of the night. With just over two minutes to go in the quarter Brad Richardson was able to cut the Terrapin lead to seven. But the flurry was too little too late and the Terrapins got the last goal of the quarter and started the fourth with two more. Michael Goltra made the score 15-6 but then Maxwell Ritz scored his fifth goal of the night for the Terrapins to make to score 16-6.
Adam Goodwin scored two more and got his first hat trick of the season. However it was, not enough to overcome the Terrapins lead. There were two other Terrapins with hat tricks, Xander Ritz and Brendan Healy; Joe Walters also recorded 5 assists for the Terrapins.
Goodwin had two assists for the Pioneers along with his hat trick and Brett Koll also added an assist to his one goal. Geoff Snider and Ryan Zordani also recorded assists. Snider took only 14 of 26 face offs but also grabbed 12 ground balls. Both Jeb Hollingsworth and Austin Konkel shared time in the net with Hollingsworth taking the first 32:23 allowing 9 goals and making 7 saves. Konkel finished the game allowing 7 goals in 27:37 and making 5 saves.
The Pioneers also had six penalties for five minutes to Maryland’s one penalty for one minute. Maryland also took 49 ground balls to Denver’s 36 and Denver committed 27 turnovers to Maryland’s 21. Overall the Pioneers just fell behind in the first quarter and were simply unable to close the gap later in the game.
While the Pioneers did lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament, it was farther than the team has ever gone in the past. Overall, the season was a success with the Pioneers winning the most games its ever has with 12.
The Pioneers also won the Great Western Lacrosse League for the first time ever. They also won every conference game for the first time. DU was also undefeated at home, 9-0, for the first time ever as well. While the Pioneers trip to the post season was short lived, it was a success in its own right and will hopefully be the first of many.
