It was the Wesley Berg show on a crisp spring night on April 3 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Berg (Coquitlam, B.C.) had more points than he had in the last three games combined—all coming in the first half of a 15-4 win over the University of Villanova Wildcats.

The senior scored in the first 33 seconds off of a feed from sophomore midfielder Tyler Pace (Coquitlam, B.C.). Berg scored the next four for the No. 5 Pioneers, one of which in particularly memorable fashion when his loose ball pick-up turned into a spinning shot at the open goal. For Berg, his breakout performance seems to go against the norm of offensive coordinator Matt Brown’s offense.
“We’re not gonna have players that put up the hundred point seasons, but we’re going to have seven or eight guys that are up there contributing with a lot of points,” Berg said.

Berg finished with 10 points on seven goals and three assists, breaking the school record for most points in the first half.

“I thought we had some lucky bounces ,but I think sometimes you create your own luck and I really thought the guys came to play tonight early,” Pioneer Head Coach Bill Tierney said. “As crazy as it sounds, I was more proud of the defense tonight than the offense.”

After tying the game at one apiece in the first quarter, victory never seemed to be in reach for the Wildcats. Fueled by Berg, the Pioneers scored 10 straight, and didn’t allow a Villanova goal until the 14:13 mark of the third quarter.

Denver dominated in ground balls (31-11) in large part because of freshman Trevor Baptiste’s success at the faceoff x. Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) went 15-for-21 on the day.

“They did a really good job of beating us off the ground, riding us hard, causing turnovers, a lot of goals off of failed clears,” added head Villanova coach Michael Corrado.