Photo by: David Stewart
The Pioneers have found consistency at the attack position this season in three players: senior captain Todd Baxter and juniors Mark Matthews and Alex Demopoulos.
Last season, the Pioneers’ big three combined for 87 goals and 44 assists. This season, the trio has improved, combiningfor 96 goals and 65 assists this season, while leading the team to its best year in program history.
The unit spearheads a high-powered Pioneer offense, which won the Eastern College Athletic Conference regular season and postseason championship and help the school earn a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“They got Lebron, they got Wade, they got Bosh and they have 10 other really good players,” said Fairfield head coach Andy Copelan about planning for the Pioneers’ offense. “And in addition, they are coached by the John Wooden of college lacrosse.”
This season has turned into something special for the trio, leaving their coach to feel like his players have gelled flawlessly.
“They really do care about each other. When you watch other teams play, one guy scores and he kind of just walks away,” said head coach Bill Tierney, who has led DU to back-to-back ECAC championships. “These three really love each other. In the Duke game, [Duke} kind of shut Matthews down so we brought him over to the side and played five-on-five. Todd scored four goals, and Matthews was as happy for him as he would have been for himself.”
Matthews has been having a career season as a junior, leading the Pioneers in goals, 41, and in points, 62. Recently he passed former Pioneer standout, and now assistant coach, Matt Brown for the school’s Division I record in points.
“My teammates give me a lot of looks, and coach puts me in the position to score. Guys are giving me the ball and it happens to be going in right now,” said Matthews, who scored twice and added an assist in the Pioneers’ most recent win in the ECAC championship game against Fairfield.
Matthews has had to deal with all types of looks from opposing teams to get his points, but he has not let that stop him, according to Tierney.
As for Demopoulos, he has developed into the quarterback of the offense, embracing the role of a passer.
“Mops [Demopolous] has been the quarterback out there,” said Tierney. “This season he has gotten the assists. Last year he would have, but it would have been a second-handed assist.”
This season Demopoulos is leading the Pioneers in assists with 26, but he is also putting the ball in the net with 27 goals. Against Fairfield, he finished with a team high four points on two goals and two assists.
Demopoulos, like Matthews, credits his teammates for opening the field up for him to find the holes to score.
“I think that me and Mark, last year, had success with each other,” said Demopoulos. “This year Todd has really stepped up and contributed a lot more points, but overall he has been all over the place. The three of us have really gelled over the past years.”
Baxter, the leader of the group, has really stepped up for the Pioneers into a role that was needed for the attack to succeed.
According to Tierney, Baxter is the glue that holds the three of them together and makes them work.
“The guy that kind of gets underlooked is Todd,” said Tierney.
Tierney often refers to Baxter as the “heart and soul” of the team, which is the highest of compliments, considering this is the best team in school history.
Last season Baxter registered 22 points compared to this season’s total of 46.
“We’re together as a cohesive unit, and we kind of feed off of each other,” said Baxter. “We do our attack thing.”
Without one of the three, the attack unit would not be as strong as it is, as all three have played every minute since the team lost its fourth attackman Colin Scott earlier in the season.
“I think the most amazing part of it all is that they have all, knock on wood, stayed reasonably healthy to play every minute of every game that we have needed to, to be a unit,” said Tierney.
Unfortunately, Baxter was hurt in the ECAC championship game this past weekend.
Baxter had an MRI on Monday afternoon for an ankle and knee injury. His status is questionable for the first round of the NCAA tournament at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium this Sunday at 3:15, according to a source close to the situation.
