On Saturday, March 31, the Pioneers beat Georgetown 6-5 in a game that saw senior faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) move into second in career faceoff wins for NCAA Division I history. Denver defense also matched its season low in terms of goals allowed.
Sophomore Ethan Walker (Peterborough, Ontario) was the team offensive leader with two goals and an assist, while sophomore defenseman Danny Logan (Upper Arlington, Ohio) and junior defenseman Dylan Johnson (Englewood, Colo.) led the Denver defense with two caused turnovers each.
In the first 15 minutes, junior Austin French (Danville, Calif.) was the only goal scorer, off an assist from Walker. Denver entered the second quarter down 2-1. After being held scoreless in the second quarter, the Pioneers were held to just one goal in the first half for the second-consecutive week.
In the third quarter, Walker scored twice to bring the score to 5-3. Both of his goals were unassisted goals.
Baptiste opened up the scoring in the first minute of the fourth quarter with an unassisted goal. His goal was followed by unassisted goals from senior Joe Reid (Petaluma, Calif.) and junior Colin Rutan (Walnut Creek, Calif.). Sophomore goalkeeper Josh Matte (Issaquah, Wash.) was credited with three saves in the quarter, preserving Denver’s one point lead.
“First of all, all the credit in the world to Coach [Kevin] Warne, his staff and his players. They took it to us. Their goalie was fabulous and they battled for 60 minutes. It was a great defensive lacrosse game with two goalies that both played well,” Head Coach Bill Tierney said, following the game. “Our guys found a way to win a slow game today, our defense played well and Trevor was of course great facing off and got a big goal to start the fourth quarter for us. In the end though, credit to Georgetown with the way they came out to play today. We haven’t had a close one with them in a while, and you could tell their kids wanted it.”
The Pioneers travel to No. 8 Villanova April 7, a Big East opponent. Faceoff is at 12 p.m., MT. The game can be watched on the Big East Digital Network, and will be broadcast on ESPN Denver 1600.
