The No. 4-seeded Denver men’s lacrosse team came back from a 6-0 deficit Sunday to top No. 5-seeded North Carolina 12-11 after a game-winning goal from senior attackman Eric Law with 13 seconds remaining in the game.
The win marks the second time in program history that the Pioneers have advanced to the NCAA Final Four, along with only the second time any team west of the Mississippi River has made it to that point. It also marks the largest come-from-behind victory under head coach Bill Tierney.
The Pioneers are now the first team in Men’s Lacrosse Championship Quarterfinal history to win after trailing by five goals or more.
“This is a rare thing that these guys get to go through, and we’re thankful for it, we’re happy for it and we’re thrilled about it,” said Tierney. “North Carolina, what a train that was trying to stop that coming down at us early. Mostly, I’m proud of these young men and teammates for persevering. You don’t get too many opportunities in life to fight through such adversity and come back ahead. I’m just proud of everybody at the University of Denver and everybody in our organization.”
Law led the Pioneers Sunday with six points off his eighth hat trick of the year and three assists, along with junior goalkeeper Jamie Faus, who made 11 saves in 50:23 of play and allowing only five goals.
“I didn’t know I was going to be going in, but you always have to be ready,” said Faus, who usually splits playing time with sophomore goalkeeper Ryan LaPlante and plays the second half. “When I got in there, I just tried to get a feel for how the defenseman in front of me-Kyle (Hercher), Harley Brown, Drew Babb, Carson Cannon-were feeling, and they were all calm so we just went from there and talked everything through.”
Scoring alongside Law were sophomore midfielder Wes Berg with four goals and an assist for his team-leading ninth hat trick of the season, senior attackman Colin Scott with two goals and junior midfielder Jeremy Noble, sophomore midfielder Eric Adamson and freshman attackman Gordie Koerber with a goal apiece to round out Denver’s scoring.
Senior midfielder Chase Carraro won 17 of 26 face-offs, including six of the last seven to help Denver in their 6-1 run at the end of the game. Carraro also nabbed six ground balls in the effort. LaPlante started the game for the Pioneers and made one save in 9:37 of play.
Leading the Tar Heels in scoring were sophomore attackman Joey Sankey, senior midfielder Davey Emala and junior midfielder Mark McNeill with two goals each. Freshman goalkeeper Kieran Burke recorded 10 saves in the loss while allowing 12 goals.
“I would like to thank our seniors for a terrific season; it is never easy,” said North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi. “We fought hard all year long, and broke great ground for this team and these seniors did a great job in providing great leadership. The whole group was terrific. We had great energy the first half for sure. We didn’t necessarily match their intensity and the pace of their offense at the end of the day. I think overall it was a terrific lacrosse game and I commend [Denver] for a great win.”
The Tar Heels jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game before the Pioneers even got on the board.
North Carolina’s Emala opened the scoring just under three minutes into the game with a shot past LaPlante before Sankey followed up with one of his own at 4:01 in the first quarter.
Sophomore defenseman Ryan Kilpatrick scored a third goal for the Tar Heels before McNeill added another to give UNC a 4-0 lead with 7:21 remaining in the first stanza.
Less than a minute later, sophomore midfielder Chad Tutton extended the margin to 5-0 before freshman defenseman Evan Connell followed and scored the sixth straight goal for the Tar Heels at 9:37 before the Pioneers put a stop to their scoring spree.
Scott got the Pioneers on the board for the first time all game with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter off a rebound which he caught and tossed back into the net past Burke to cut the lead to 6-1 and account for Denver’s only goal in the first quarter.
Berg started off the second quarter with a goal at 2:31 assisted by Law to make the score 6-2 before North Carolina struck back. North Carolina’s Sankey struck back just over a minute later to extend the lead to 7-2.
North Carolina regained their six-goal lead with just over five minutes remaining in the half when junior midfielder Pat Foster beat Faus before Berg answered with his second goal of the game and 54th of the season. Berg struck back with 4:30 left in the first half to cut the lead back to five goals before Law followed up with one of his own just 26 seconds later.
With just 1:20 remaining, freshman midfielder Steve Pontrello made the score 9-4 to send both teams into the locker rooms for intermission.
The Pioneers came out hot after halftime with back-to-back goals from Koerber and Berg with less than three minutes off the clock to cut the Tar Heel lead to its narrowest margin since 6:15 into the game.
McNeill extended the lead to 10-6 with 7:02 left in the frame before Berg added his fourth and final goal of the game to cut the lead back to three with just over a minute left in the period.
Law sparked an offensive surge from the Pioneers just 41 seconds into the final stanza with a goal of his own that began a 5-1 scoring advantage for the Pioneers, which eventually led to the team’s win. Noble followed up Law’s goal with one of his own with nine minutes remaining in regulation to bring the score within one at 10-9.
Emala responded to Noble’s goal for the Tar Heels final tally of the game to make the score 11-9. Scott responded with his second goal of the day, marking his fourth multi-goal game of the season, and cutting the lead to 11-10 with 4:44 left in the game.
Adamson knotted the game for the first and only time of the day with 1:31 remaining with a goal past Burke, putting the Pioneers in a position to win the game.
With just 13 seconds left on the clock Law got off a shot, while being knocked to the ground by a Tar Heels defender, that found the net and secured the 12-11 win for the Pioneers, advancing them to the NCAA Semifinals.
The Pioneers are set to take on No. 1-seeded Syracuse on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Philadelphia for their second NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final Four appearance in the last three years.
