Much like the dark clouds blanketing the sky on the afternoon of May 16, things looked bleak for the Denver men’s lacrosse team. The eventual game result—a 15-13 score in favor of the Pioneers and a spot in next week’s semifinals—was beyond a hope and a prayer.
Denver started out looking nervous, almost as if they didn’t belong. They only cleared the ball successfully twice out of four chances. The Pioneers were out-ground-balled, out-faceoffed and out-hustled by the Buckeyes of Ohio State University.
After exchanging tallies in the first three minutes, the Pioneers would not score again for another 18 minutes, until there there were nine minutes left in the second quarter.
Senior Ohio State midfielder Jesse King had five points after the first quarter of play, leading to a comfortable 6-1 Buckeye lead.
Pioneer revenge for a 13-11 regular season loss to the Buckeyes was in doubt.
“Of the 52 people [on our sideline], there was only one who didn’t have poise, and you’re looking at him,” said Denver head coach Bill Tierney in the postgame press conference. “I’m going raving crazy. [Matt] Brown’s looking at me, he’s going, ‘Relax, we’re okay.’ Trevor [Tierney]’s looking at me going, ‘Relax, we’re okay.’ John Orsen, who’s 30 years old, first time he’s had this opportunity, is going, ‘Coach, we’re going to be okay.’ So we were okay.”
Sophomore attackman Connor Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, New York) gave life to the Pioneers when he came around the net and whipped a shot inside the near post to make it 7-2.
A Tewaaraton Finalist and DU’s all-time point scorer, Wesley Berg (Coquitlam, British Columbia) had four points before the halftime whistle and recorded his 28th career hat trick in the process. Berg finished with six goals and an assist.
Then the script was flipped. The Buckeye barrage gave way to the Wesley Berg show.
“When we started getting the run, the crowd just really came to life, and that’s huge for us,” said senior attackman Sean Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, New York), referring to the 13,076 fans in attendance. “They were so loud out there, and we just fed off that.”
May 16 recorded the sixth largest crowd for a quarterfinal game in the NCAA Tournament.
Up until the waning seconds of the third quarter, the Buckeyes couldn’t buy a goal, and scored on two of their 11 total shots. Ryan LaPlante (Fort Collins, Colorado), senior goaltender and star of the third quarter, made 13 saves, one of which was a highlight-reel foot save on the doorstep against King.
“You can’t win games like this without seniors,” added Tierney. “And our senior class is very special.”
Goals from the Cannizzaro duoalong with contributions from senior midfielder Erik Adamson (Anaheim Hills, California) and junior middie Colin Woolford (Norwalk, Connecticut), put the game out of reach.
University of Notre Dame awaits Denver in the NCAA Semifinals on May 23 in Philadelphia. The Pioneers were the overtime victors during the regular season contest, winning 11-10 in Denver.
The stakes are higher this time, and the current trend doesn’t favor the Pioneers. Johns Hopkins University has beaten the University of Virginia and now Syracuse University after losing to both teams earlier in the year. The University of Albany did the same to Cornell University in the first round of the tournament. The Pioneers themselves got revenge on the Buckeyes.
For Denver to defy the current precedent don’t have to do much different than what they have been doing during their now 11-game win streak:win faceoffs, play smart and get production from their stellar senior class.
