No. 3 ranked Denver triumphed 17-10 over the St. John’s University (SJU) Red Storm in 35 degree weather with constant snowfall and wind gusts on Saturday, April 16. Following a three-game road stint, the Denver Pioneers were welcomed back to Peter Barton Stadium with a spring blizzard, mirroring last weekend’s snowy conditions against Villanova. To combat the atrocious conditions, Denver sported their gold jerseys and the game was played with an orange ball.
“The game was a microcosm of our season,” head coach Bill Tierney said. “We did some really amazing things, but we were also a disaster at times. It was up and down. Early on, I thought they stuck to the plan of keeping it simple. I think some goals were too easy and they started to think it was going to stay easy. Credit to them [SJU], they kept playing, didn’t quit and made it tougher on us than we wanted it to be.”
United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) First Team All American Connor Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, New York) ignited Denver’s scoring just three minutes into the first quarter and finished the game with five goals. The junior tallied eleven goals over the course of two consecutively treacherous games.
Freshman Austin French (Danville, California) and sophomore Connor Donahue (Groton, Massachusetts) extended Denver’s lead to three before the Red Storm converted their first of the game, beating freshman goalie Alex Ready (Lancaster, Pennsylvania). The Pioneers closed out scoring for the opening quarter with goals from senior captain Jack Bobzien (Littleton, Colorado) and Cannizzaro. Throughout the game, Bobzien would complete his third hat trick of the season, along with two assists.
Bobzien kicked off a three-goal run for the Pioneers during the second quarter, followed by freshman midfielder Colton Jackson (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) and Cannizaro, extending DU’s lead 8-1. Jackson finished the day with the first three-goal game of his career.
St. John’s scored their second of the game with 5:53 left in the half. Just under two minutes later, Donahue countered to broaden Denver’s lead back to seven. The Red Storm captured the last goal of the half, resulting in a 9-3 lead for Denver heading into the locker room.
While the third quarter has been an area of weakness for the Pioneers this season, the third quarter marked the highest scoring period of the game for DU.
“I feel like Coach T and all of the other coaches have been stressing that,” sophomore faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste (Denville, New Jersey) said. “As a program, that’s usually our strongest quarter. This year we’ve been trailing off in the [third] quarter because we come out so hot. That’s been our emphasis all week, to come out after halftime firing.”
SJU netted their fourth goal of the game only 12 seconds into the second half on an extra-man opportunity. Jackson scored on the run, unassisted, to return Denver’s lead back to six. SJU added a pair of goals to cut the deficit down to four for the first time in the game. Cannizzaro countered with his fourth tally of the day, followed by a St. John’s conversion one minute later.
With the score sitting 11-7 in favor of the Pioneers and seven minutes left in the third quarter, Denver composed a four-goal run from Jackson, sophomore Brendan Bomberry (Ohsweken, Ontario), Bobzien and Cannizzaro. Denver maintained a 15-7 lead before the final quarter of play.
Junior Hunter Krout (Naples, Florida) relieved Ready in net during the final minutes. With two minutes left, freshman Nate Marano (Tustin, California) rushed, unassisted, to close out scoring for the Pioneers. Krout relinquished one goal to the Red Storm, finalizing the 17-10 score.
Denver’s win over St. John’s improved their BIG EAST record to 3-0 and lengthened their conference win streak to 18 games, the second-longest active streak in the nation and eighth longest in NCAA history.
“Ten [goals against] is not good for us. I’m not sure we played great defense at times,” Tierney said. “Our clearing game has gotten a lot better [in the past few games]. This group does a great job on the things we work hard on during that week. Then when they forget something, they forget something. It’s something we have to work on.”
Denver travels to Providence, Rhode Island to play the first of their last two conference games against Providence University on April 23. Faceoff will begin at 10 a.m. MT. The Pioneers will then host the BIG EAST tournament May 5-7.
