Photo by: Andrew Fielding
The dream of a national championship has ended for the University of Denver’s men’s lacrosse team.
The University of Virginia blasted Denver 14-8 in the first national semifinal contest Saturday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium, advancing to the national championship game on Monday against Maryland (1:30 p.m. MST).
“[Our guys] had a season that no one could have believed even when we got here. The doubters were out there and unfortunately, with the way we played, there will still be some out there tomorrow,” said Denver head coach Bill Tierney. “We have to congratulate the University of Virginia and the way they played today. They were fantastic and you have to give credit to the players for that.”
The Cavaliers (12-5) dominated both halves, displaying both an overbearing presence of poise and experience on both the offensive and defensive ends of the field. Virginia used scoring streaks of five and four goals each to end the Pioneers season, snapping the program’s record 12-game win-streak.
It was Denver’s first Final Four appearance, and the team showed it’s inexperience early and often as they failed to get within six goals of UVA in the second half, facing their largest deficit of the season when Virginia went up ten goals, 13-3, before the end of the third quarter.
“We didn’t do it during the first three quarters and Virginia deserved to win,” said freshman Jeremy Noble. “They were the better team, but we know we are a good team and we look forward to seeing what we can do next year.”
Virginia controlled the faceoffs (13-11), the shots (32-26), groundballs (27-19) and the time of possession.
UVA carried a 9-2 lead into halftime and never trailed in the contest after the Pioneers were held scoreless in the last 20 minutes of the first half.
For the second straight weekend, the Cavaliers dominated the second quarter, shutting out the Pioneers (15-3) offense, 4-0, and maintaining possession much of the quarter.
“If you talk about how you like to script a first half, it probably wouldn’t have been much different than what you saw on the field,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “We were going to try to attack Denver from behind and use an attackman on the first midfield spot to take it behind the goal. I thought we put some pressure on the young kid in goal and took advantage of the opportunities we did create.
The Virginia offense was particular strong in protecting the ball only committing three first half turnovers as the Cavaliers attack unit had its way with the Denver defense.
Junior Steele Stanwick had five points on three goals and two assists, while fellow junior Chris Bocklet emerged with three goals in the first and sophomore Matt White added three points (one goal and two assists).
UVA’s Mark Cockerton recorded a hat trick and an assist off of the bench, while four other Cavaliers came off the bench to score in the contest.
Virginia dominated the man-up opportunities, converting on three of their six man-up opportunities to further jump ahead on the Pioneers.
Noble led the Pioneers with three goals and an assist as redshirt sophomore Eric Law added three points (two goals, one assist).
Virginia’a zone defense proved too much for the inexperienced Pioneers, holding the high-powered Denver offense to three goals in the first three quarters.
“Coach [Matt] Brown put the game plan together for us and against their zone, we did a good job,” said captain Andrew Lay. “Their defense executed its game plan very well against us.”
The Pioneers started the second half with a quick goal, but allowed the Cavaliers to find their rhythm shortly after as they won the third quarter 4-2.
Denver made a slight comeback, going on a 4-0 run in the fourth quarter, but the comeback ultimately fell short, as Virginia was able to hold on to the ball late in the fourth quarter.
Freshman goalie Jamie Faus had his worst performance of the year, allowing 14 goals and only making eight stops, as the UVA offense was relentless throughout.
“Virginia’s a great team and have tremendous shooters. They can shoot the lights out of the ball,” said Faus after the game. “Obviously, I didn’t have my best day today.”
In a season of many firsts, the Pioneers must exit the tournament after earning the school’s first win’s in the NCAA tournament as well as winning its first NCAA quarterfinal game.
“Denver being here means as much to our sport as almost anything that’s happened the past 15 years,” said Starsia, the all-time leader in wins amongst Division I head coaches.
