The DU Men’s Lacrosse team finished its regular BIG EAST season with a perfect record, its fifth-straight BIG EAST regular season title with a 7-4 win over Marquette. This was the 28th-straight sellout game at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, with a recorded attendance of 2,700, the eighth-highest attendance.
Junior Nate Marano (Tustin, Calif.) had the only goal for the Pioneers in the first quarter when he scored at 5:40, with an assist from sophomore Ethan Walker (Peterborough, Ontario).
In the second quarter, junior attackman Austin French (Danville, Calif.) scored at 6:19 in the second quarter, assisted by Walker. French followed that goal up with another one at 3:53, assisted by freshman Ted Sullivan (Tucson, Ariz.). Although Marquette scored a goal at 3:32, senior faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) responded with an unassisted goal at 3:24.
In the third quarter, Marquette and Denver traded off scoring. Marquette was the first to score. The Pioneers responded with an unassisted goal from Walker at 13:34. Marquette responded at 10:45 during a 30-second man up advantage. Denver finished the quarter with a goal from French, assisted by Walker, at 7:33.
In the fourth and final quarter, Marquette scored once at 14:30. However, Denver had the final goal of the game at 9:18, an unassisted goal by Marano.
Sophomore goalie Josh Matte (Issaquah, Wash.) improved his record for this season to 7-0, saving around 60 percent of shots he faced on Saturday. Baptiste was 11-of-13 at the faceoff, finishing with double digit faceoff wins for the 64th time in 65 games. With Saturday’s game, Baptiste is 13 faceoff wins short of tying, and 14 short of breaking, the NCAA Division I faceoff wins record.
Seniors Connor Donahue (Groton, Mass.), Grant Gravitt (Las Vegas, Nev.), Joe Reid (Petaluma, Calif.), Nick Phillips (Denver, Colo.), Matt Jones (Denver, Colo.), Zach Runberg (Centennial, Colo.), Colton McCaffrey (Parker, Colo.), Jeremy Bosher (Kamloops, B.C.), Sean Mayle (San Carlos, Calif.), Baptiste and redshirt senior Connor Flynn (Charlotte, N.C.) were honored after the match for their contributions to the Denver lacrosse program.
Both Baptiste and Mayle were selected in the first round of the Major League Lacrosse Draft, Baptiste going as the No. 1 pick to the Boston Cannons and Mayle going as the No. 6 pick to the Chesapeake Bayhawks. All 11 seniors were members of the 2015 NCAA Lacrosse National Championship team.
The Pioneers head to the BIG EAST Tournament at Villanova for their first game against No. 4 seed, Marquette, in the semifinals. The faceoff is set for Thursday, May 3, at 2:30 MT, and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network and ESPN 1600.
