On Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, the Pioneers defeated the Alumni All-Stars 16-9 behind strong performances from junior Ethan Walker (Peterborough, Ontario) and freshman Drew Erickson (Danville,Calif.). Junior goalie Alex Ready (Lancaster, Pa.) made four saves in the first half, helping the Pioneers open up and increase their lead against the Alumni All-Stars.
Walker was the first to score at 14:09, with an assist from senior Colton Jackson (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), following his goal up with an assist to Erickson’s 10:41 goal. The Alumni finally got on the board at 6:25 in the first period with a goal from Eric Law ‘13 (Centennial, Colo.), who was assisted by Connor Cannizzaro ‘17 (Cazenovia, N.Y.). The Alumni tied up the game at 4:51 when Cannizzaro scored his first of the game with an assist from Law. Walker, assisted by sophomore Ted Sullivan (Tucson, Ariz.) at 2:57. The Alumni responded at 00:56 with a goal from Mark Matthews ‘12 (Oshawa, Ontario).
Denver opened up the second period with an unassisted goal from freshman Alex Simmons (Smithville, Ontario) at 9:52 to bring the score to 4-3, Pioneers. Cannizzaro quickly added another goal for the Alumni, assisted by Law at 8:10 to even the score back at 4-4. The quarter continued that way, as Erickson, assisted by freshman Austin Stewart (Arlington, Va.) scored for the Pioneers, followed by Matthews, assisted by Law. The Alumni would get their only lead of the game at 4:28 when Law scored an unassisted goal to bring the score to 6-5, Alumni. From there on, the Pioneers fired back and scored six unanswered goals in the second and third periods to grab the lead. Sullivan opened up the run for the Pioneers, scoring an unassisted goal at 1:54. He was followed by Simmons who had an assist from sophomore Riley Curtis (Brampton, Ontario).
The Pioneers would continue their run in the third period, led by freshman Ellis Geis (Tustin, Calif.). Geis scored an unassisted goal at 14:06, followed by Walker at 11:51. Senior Dylan Johnson (Englewood, Colo.) scored off an assist from Walker at 9:45 to bring the score to 10-6, Pioneers. Walker scored his fourth goal of the game at 6:28 with an assist from Jackson to close out the Pioneers’ scoring run. The defense and freshman goalie Cole French (Danville, Calif.) shut down the Alumni and did not allow a single goal in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Max Planning ‘17 (Alexandria, Va.) scored at 12:37 with an assist from Bryce Parietti ‘16 (Centennial, Colo.). He was followed by Colton McCaffrey ‘18 (Parker, Colo.), who was assisted by Zach Runberg ‘18 (Centennial, Colo.). The Pioneers responded with four unassisted goals; freshman Johnny Marrocco (Cincinnati, Ohio) at 8:48, Geis at 7:09, freshman Jackson Harvey (Greenwood Village, Colo) at 7:01, and Erickson at 6:09. Cannizzaro scored one last time for the Alumni at 00:49, but the current Pioneers had the last goal of the game with an unassisted goal from freshman Josh Dawick (Oakville, Ontario) at 00:04.
“Today was a great day for lacrosse all the way around. To host our friends from Unified Lacrosse at halftime and play a game with beautiful weather against a skilled group of our alumni was a great way to finish off our fall,” Head Coach Bill Tierney said. “All in all, we got out of this game healthy and showed some good things at times throughout. We’ll enjoy our banquet tonight to celebrate the 2018 season, and then our minds shift to getting ready for February.”
Walker totaled four goals and two assists, while Erickson secured a hat-trick. Simmons finished with two goals and an assist, and Geis scored two goals. Freshmen Brett Boos (Parker, Colo.) was 16-of-21 from the faceoff, while freshman Harvey was 5-of-8 with a goal.
On the Alumni side, Law, who won the MLL Championship this summer, was the team leader with six points on two goals and four assists. Cannizzaro, who scored 29 hat-tricks in his Pioneer Career, returned and scored another hat-trick. In goal for the Alumni were junior Josh Matte (Issaquah, Wash.), who made 10 saves on 17 shots, and sophomore Tristan Wright (Reno, Nev.), who stopped 10 shots out of 19.
