Photo by: Ryan Lumpkin

The DU men’s lacrosse team is familiar with the popular notion they can’t lose three times to the same team in one season, but they aren’t listening as they prepare for tomorrow’s NCAA quarterfinal matchup against top-seeded Loyola, a team that has beaten the Pioneers twice already this season.

“It’s weird when you lose two times to the same team, everybody starts telling you you’re the favorite, because nobody can beat anybody three times in the same year,” said head coach Bill Tierney during Tuesday’s press conference. “Being the internal pessimist I am, I know there are several ways they can beat us.”

The Pioneers (9-6) are certainly not buying into the concept the third time is the charm and Tierney believes the Greyhounds (15-1) aren’t either, acknowledging the strengths of Loyola, a team that is second in the country in scoring margin (5.19 margin of victory) and man-up offense (.500), while ranking fourth in scoring offense (12.69 goals per game) and fifth in groundballs (33.81 per game).

“We don’t expect them to change their strategy much,” said Tierney. “They are terrific on defense and have a real strong goalie. Their defensive midfielders can run past pretty much anybody and they have a pair of attackmen who can score inside and outside. We are making changes to help prevent making the mistakes we have made against them, and its nothing drastically new, rather playing the style of play we are capable of doing.”

The last time the teams met was on May 2, when the Greyhounds defeated the Pioneers 14-13 in overtime during the semifinals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

Loyola’s long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff scooped up a groundball on the opening face-off in overtime and ran down the field, scoring past freshman goalie Ryan LaPlante eight seconds into the period.

The memory has stuck with the Pioneers and they are excited to have an opportunity to avenge that loss.

“It was tough to watch it happen, but we are definitely motivated by that moment going into this weekend and we’ve talked about it, but it’s in the past so we can’t spend too much time focusing on it,” said junior face-off specialist Chase Carraro on Wednesday. “You don’t ever get a third chance against a team, so if we can’t beat them this time around, they deserve to win the whole damn thing, but at the same time, they are the hottest team in the country and we are pumped to have another shot at them. If we didn’t want to play them a third time, then there’d be something wrong with us.”

Sophomore midfielder Jeremy Noble, who is coming off a career game in the Pioneers’ 16-14 first round victory over North Carolina last Saturday, remembers the final play of the ECAC semifinals because he had to watch from the sidelines with cramps.

“Neither Cam [Flint] or I were on the field during that faceoff, and we actually won it, but [Ratliff] made a great play on the ball and ran with it down the field and he ended up scoring,” said Noble. “We want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Carraro said he had a chance to drive the ball in a different direction, but couldn’t guide the ball to where he wanted to put it, which resulted in Ratliff making the easy scoop.

The quick goal came after a fourth quarter, where the Pioneers erased a 13-6 deficit, scoring seven goals in less than 12 minutes to force the contest into overtime. Carraro, who is fifth in the nation with a 62.9 face-off percentage, acknowledged the team remembers that quarter and will use it as additional motivation.

“We have to remember what we did in the fourth quarter against them, and have that mindset throughout, because if we can feel like we did in the fourth, and execute like did, then we will be successful,” said Carraro. “This third game is all about us showing who we really are, doing things all over the field and throughout the game, and then closing the game out.”

Although Denver was able to protect their lead last weekend at UNC, the team has struggled this season in the second half, losing five times by one goal and four times in overtime. In all those contests, they held a lead at some point in the second half.

Tierney admitted the team has gone through its fair share of struggles this season, which would make a victory on Saturday even a bigger deal than when the team beat Johns Hopkins in last years quarterfinals to advance to the school’s first ever Final Four.

“I think it would be a bigger deal if we made a repeat trip to the Final Four, and that’s because they’ve only been seven or eight teams that have made multiple Final Four appearances over the last decade and there’s only been four different champions since 1992,” said Tierney. “So the sport hasn’t changed much and for us to get back there, after all the suffering we went through, it would be a very big deal.”

Tierney cited the teams struggle in the fall, when they lost to unranked Harvard in a preseason matchup in San Francisco. He also noted the trouble they had with having a target on their back early in the season and having to endure five one-goal losses throughout the regular season.

“We feel like we won our first overtime game a few weekends ago when we got selected to be in this tournament,” said Tierney. “Making it back to this point after this long season, and losing the guys we lost after last year, it means a lot to our guys and this program, especially dealing with the injury to Jamie in the middle of the season. It would be pretty overwhelming to do it two years in a row.”

If anybody is responsible for steering the Pioneers through a challenging year, then it is Tierney, a six-time national championship winner who has advanced to the Final Four 11 times in his career, including a pair of victories against Loyola in the quarterfinals, when he was head coach at Princeton.

While he could accept the credit for getting the Pioneers back to the quarterfinals, Tierney gives the recognition for his players, fighting through the adversity.

“A few weeks ago, if you had told me I’d be standing here I would have said you were delusional,” said Tierney. “So a lot of credit goes to our guys for going up against a lot of adversity this season and meeting it with perseverance and fortitude.”

In addition to Carraro and Noble, the Pioneers have been led by senior attackmen Mark Matthews and Alex Demopoulos, who led the team on its unprecedented postseason run last spring. Matthews has a team-high 61 points on 44 goals and 17 assists, while Demopoulos is second on the team with 46 points.

On offense, the Pioneers have been unstoppable in the last five quarters, recording a total of 23 goals; however, they have struggled against the Greyhounds this season, committing a total of 28 turnovers in their previous two meetings.

“We know they can take advantage of our mistakes, so it’s key we finish possessions and run all our sets to the best of our ability,” said Demopoulos. “When playing a team a third time, it really comes down to who plays better that day, because both teams know each other pretty well.”

The senior noted the team has endured a lot this season and it will draw from last season’s experience come this weekend.

“Being a senior, it means a lot to me [and my classmates] to be here after going through what we have this year,” said Demopoulos. “We were a bubble team, so we know we want to make the most of this opportunity and I think having the experience from last year will benefit us as it has all year long when we have gone up against adversity.”

Tierney expects the game to be determined in the midfield, where the Greyhounds have a plethora of offensive and defensive players who have caused trouble in the previous two matchups.

Carraro and Noble agree the midfield will play a huge part in determining the outcome of the game, but noted what it comes down to is who wants it more when the opening whistle blows.

“We realize how important we all are to this team and we know what it really comes down to is how bad we want it and going out there and seizing the moment,” said Noble. “We are definitely confident about playing them again and excited for what we expect to be another battle.”

The game starts at 12:30 p.m. MT tomorrow and will be aired on ESPN2.