For the second time in as many years, the Pioneer men’s lacrosse team finds themselves sitting at 9-2 11 games into the season, riding a six-game win streak and ranked No. 6 in the nation.

The team’s most recent addition to the winning streak came as senior midfielder Jeremy Noble found twine with 39 seconds left in overtime to lift the Pioneers to a 9-8 win over Big East conference foe Villanova. Denver sits atop the conference with a 3-0 record, and Villanova remains in second (2-1, 4-6 overall).

It is not unlike the team’s ninth win last year, in which the Pioneers beat former conference rival Bellarmine 11-10 after two overtime periods.

“Sometimes you’re just thankful for the win,” said Head Coach Bill Tierney. “All the credit to Villanova and their staff. They were down 5-2 at half and just kept fighting and caused us a lot of problems. Sometimes you just have to win ugly.”

DU committed 15 turnovers in the game, ten of which came in a second half that saw Villanova outscore the Pios by a 6-3 margin to force overtime.

At nine goals on the game, the Pioneers were four goals short of their season average of 13.10 goals per game.
Junior attackman Wesley Berg led the offense with four points on two goals and two assists. Midfielders Tyler Pace and Erik Adamson each had a hat trick on the day.

DU’s two game road trip has come to an end, and the team will return home to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium to face St. Johns University Saturday afternoon.

The Inside Lacrosse poll has St. Johns on the outskirts of the top 20. The Red Storm recently suffered a conference defeat to Marquette by an 11-10 double overtime decision and have lost two in a row after a four-game win streak.