The No. 4/3 nationally ranked and top-seeded Pioneer men’s lacrosse team finished second at last weekend’s Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament Saturday after a 10-8 win Thursday over Fairfield before falling 10-9 to Ohio State on Saturday. Despite falling to the Buckeyes, Denver gained an at-large bid to the tournament and is set to host Albany on Saturday.
After being defeated 10-9 in overtime by Fairfield on April 20, the Pioneers redeemed themselves in the first round of the ECAC Tournament to advance to the championship.
Scoring for the Pioneers were senior midfielder Cameron Flint and sophomore midfielder Wes Berg with a hat trick each, along with senior attackman Eric Law, sophomore midfielder Eric Adamson and senior midfielders Chase Carraro and Taylor Young with a goal each.
Sophomore Ryan LaPlante and junior Jamie Faus split the game in goal with LaPlante making six saves and Faus with eight while both allowing four goals apiece.
“I am so proud of this team because they did not give up at any point in this game today,” said head coach Bill Tierney.
“Even when Fairfield came back to tie it twice late in the game, these guys really rallied around each other, and you could tell that they had the will to win. I also thought our goalie play was really good tonight with Ryan and Jamie in the net.”
Leading Fairfielder were junior attackman/midfielder Eric Wardan and junior attackman Jordan Greenfield with a hat trick each, while junior goalkeeper Jack Murphy made 11 saves in the effort.
The Pioneers struck first Thursday with two straight goals from Young and Berg, his 40th of the season, giving Denver a 2-0 lead at 6:27 in the first frame of the game.
Fairfield responded with a pair of goals from Greenfield to tie the game at 2-2 at the close of the first quarter.
Denver opened the second quarter scoring in the same fashion as the first with two consecutive goals from Carraro and Flint, giving the Pioneers a two-goal lead with just over five minutes remaining in the half.
Fairfield cut the Pioneer lead to one goal when Warden beat LaPlante, but Berg responded less than a minute later and put the score at 5-3. Fairfield struck one more time before the close of the first half capitalizing on a Denver penalty and sending both teams to the locker rooms with Denver leading 5-4.
After a Pioneer goalie change and a scoreless first 11 minutes in the second half, Flint found the net again for his second goal of the game to regain the Pioneers two-goal lead at 6-4, only to be answered by Greenfield for his third goal of the game and final of the third quarter.
Fairfield’s Warren opened the fourth quarter scoring with 11:38 remaining in the final stanza of the game before Berg answered to make the score 7-6. Fairfield responded with another goal before Flint found the net for the third time with just eight minutes remaining in regulation to make the score 8-7.
Adamson scored his lone goal of the game for the Pioneers to extend Denver’s lead to 9-7 before Fairfield’s Warden cut the lead again. Law added the final tally of the game to make the score its final 10-8 and send the Pioneers to the finals to face Ohio State.
Fairfield outshot the Pioneers 43-34 and held the ground ball advantage (26-19), while the Pioneers held the advantage in saves 14-11.
Saturday’s action
The Pioneers were knocked off Saturday by the Buckeyes 11-10 for the ECAC crown in the final seconds of the game. The win secured an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament for Ohio State, while the Pioneers await an at-large bid.
Leading the Denver scoring effort were Law, Berg and senior midfielder Chase Carraro with two goals each, while Flint, Adamson, junior midfielder Jeremy Noble and Young each chipped in one. Carraro also finished the day winning 13-of-24 face-offs and tallied eight ground balls.
Sophomore midfielders Jesse King and Turner Evans led the Buckeyes with six points off two goals and four assists, and four goals, respectively. ECAC Championship MVP senior attackman Logan Schuss finished Saturday with three points off two goals and an assist.
LaPlante and Faus split goaltime again on Saturday, with LaPlante making seven saves in the first half while allowing six goals and Faus making three saves in the second half and allowed five goals. Junior goalkeeper Greg Dutton defended the Ohio State goal and made nine saves, while allowing 10 goals.
Ohio State opened the scoring on Saturday after nearly 10 scoreless minutes with two goals within less than a minute from Evans and senior midfielder Dan Wertz to jump out to a 2-0 lead with 5:06 remaining in the first quarter before the Pioneers struck back. Carraro got Denver on the board first with 4:59 remaining in the first frame, only to be answered by King, who regained the Buckeye’s two-goal lead.
Berg cut the lead back to one goal before King struck again to close the period with a 4-2 Buckeye lead.
Young opened the second quarter scoring with a goal that brought the score to 4-3 before Ohio State responded with two straight within less than a minute of each other from freshman attackman Carter Brown and Evans.
Less than a minute later, Noble sparked a three-goal run for Denver with a goal with 10:04 remaining in the period before Law and Berg scored with 3:42 and 3:02 remaining in the half, respectively. The effort brought the score to a 6-6 deadlock as both teams retired to the locker room for halftime.
Just 32 seconds into the second half, Ohio State regained the lead with a goal from Schuss before Denver countered. Adamson knotted the score at 7-7 with 12:21 remaining in the third quarter. Carraro followed up with a goal of his own to give Denver its only lead of the game with six minutes remaining in the third frame.
Ohio State scored a pair of goals within a minute of each other to regain the lead 9-8. Flint responded and leveled the score to close the third quarter at a deadlocked 9-9.
After a defensive first 10 minutes of the final stanza, Ohio State finally broke the scoreless period with a goal from Schuss with just over four minutes remaining in the game to lead the Pioneers 10-9.
Law countered to knot the score at 10-10 with a goal off an assist from Flint with 2:52 remaining, but Ohio State was able to find the net one final time with 24 seconds left when Evans secured the 11-10 win, gaining an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament for the Buckeyes.
Despite the loss, Denver held a 36-27 shot advantage, 30-24 ground ball advantage, 10-9 advantage in saves and won 13-of-25 face-offs.
Denver was selected as the No. 4 seed for the NCAA tournament to face Albany on Saturday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. This game will mark the second time in program history that Denver has hosted an NCAA playoff game.
“We are thrilled about the season that our young men put together, with so many big victories and an ECAC Regular season championship,” said Tierney. “We are also very excited to be in our fourth straight NCAA Tournament and honored to be able to host a great Albany team. Denver Lacrosse fans will witness early fireworks when two of the nation’s best offenses get together here on Saturday evening.”
If the Pioneers top Albany, they play the winner of No. 5-seeded North Carolina vs. Lehigh at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Sunday, May 19 at either 10 a.m. MT or 12:30 p.m. MT.
“It means everything to have the chance to play another home game at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium,” said Law.
“It’s going to be a great game for our fans and I’m looking forward to this opportunity that we have at continuing our season.”
