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The DU men’s lacrosse team is one win away from completing a crucial three-game winning streak after a tough stretch in March that saw the Pioneers lose back-to-back overtime games as well as starting goalie Jamie Faus for the rest of the season.
No. 9/11 Denver (6-3, 2-1 ECAC) dropped Hobart on Saturday, recording a 15-8 victory, the team’s second consecutive win over an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent in as many weekends.
The Pioneers topped in-state foe Air Force 11-8 on March 24, snapping a two-game skid that featured a 10-9 loss at No. 7/8 Notre Dame in triple overtime on March 18 and then a 9-8 loss to No. 3/4 Cornell in overtime at Hempstead, N.Y., two days later.
“The next three will tell the tape for us,” said head coach Bill Tierney, following the loss to Cornell. “Either we die or we realize what we did wrong. We had a chance to beat two of the nation’s best teams, and we came close, but we made key mistakes at the end of games that cost us.”
DU lost sophomore Faus after the second overtime period against Notre Dame, as he went down with a ruptured Achilles during intermission. He had surgery on March 23 to repair the ruptured ligament, according to Tierney.
With Faus injured, the team has gone to freshman goalie and Colorado native Ryan LaPlante.
Tierney said he was planning on redshirting the freshman goalie, but Faus’ injury changed that situation.
“It’s Ryan’s job right now, and he did a great job for us versus a very tough Cornell team,” said Tierney back in March. “It was his first game and he handled it with poise. He was not fazed by the situation.”
While LaPlante has steered the ship for the Pioneers, and recorded a 2-1 record, following the injury to Faus, it was the DU offense that propelled the team in Saturday’s victory.
Junior midfielder Chase Carraro set a career record, winning 22-of-23 face-offs in the contest, helping DU eclipse a Division I record for shots in a game with 60 total shots on the afternoon. The Pioneers came within two face-off wins of the Division I record.
Carraro’s big performance made things easy for the Pioneer offense that picked apart the Statesmen’s defense. Senior attack Mark Matthews finished with his 25th career hat-trick on the afternoon, recording four goals and an assist.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game with Hobart because they have a very unique offense and we saw it in the first half,” said Tierney after Saturday’s game. “They have a couple of really good players that confused us. We probably over-coached them and when we finally settled down on defense, we settled down our offense. Us winning 24-of-25 face-offs is unheard of. I’m proud of our face-off group’s effort.”
After the losses in March, Tierney noted the team’s goal was “to keep the focus ahead of us,” which the team has done over the past two weeks, responding to the close defeats motivated and spirited.
The team looks to remain undefeated at home this season when it hosts Bellarmine this Friday at 7 p.m. It will be the third game of the crucial stretch Tierney acknowledged two weeks ago when his team was reeling after back-to-back losses.
If they can extend their winning streak to three, then the team enters its final three-game stretch with a chance of earning 10 wins on the season, which will drastically help their postseason positioning.
“I hope we can look back at these losses and say they helped us achieve where we want to be headed,” said Tierney. “Hopefully it motivates us to improve and get better.”
