Around 2,000 fans showed up for Bill Tierney Day at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium to watch the No. 17/19 University of Denver Men’s Lacrosse take on No. 9/11 Villanova Wildcats on Saturday. In honor of the celebrated lacrosse coach, Denver pulled off the upset at home with a 12-6 win and continues to stay undefeated at home. 

Bill Tierney joined the University of Denver staff for the 2010 season after a long career at Princeton University. In his 13 seasons at DU, Tierney has amassed an impressive 157-54 overall record. Coach Tierney has led his team to the postseason 10 times and helped them to win the national title in 2015. With that national championship, DU became the first team west of the Appalachian Mountains to win a lacrosse national championship. 

Tierney is retiring after the season and was honored for his successful career throughout the contest. 

Villanova got on the board first within the first two minutes of play, making them the first team to score first on Denver all season. Tyler Boes found the goal just above Denver junior goalkeeper Malcolm Kleban’s (New York, N.Y.) right shoulder unassisted. 

Junior attack Michael Lampert (Wayland, Mass.) fired back five minutes later to tie things up with a shot to the middle of the goal. The Wildcats took another lead two minutes later for their last lead of the afternoon. 

That didn’t last for long however when senior attack Richie Connell (Evergreen, Colo.) tied it back up with a minute left in the first. 

Denver had an exceptional second quarter, not allowing the Wildcats to score once and extending their lead by three. 

Junior midfielder Stephen Avery (Nashville, Tenn.) started the second quarter strong with his first goal of the game coming less than four minutes into the quarter. Junior midfield Ty Hussey (Aurora, Colo.) with help from sophomore Casey Wilson (Victoria, B.C.) scored just a minute later from the outer circle with just four seconds to go before halftime, lifting DU to a comfortable lead of 5-2 heading into the second half of play. 

DU’s streak of holding Villanova scoreless continued well into the third period while also simultaneously extending their lead. Sophomore attack Noah Manning (Victoria, B.C.) found the back of the net just over 30 seconds into the third for his 11th goal of the season. Connell got his second of the afternoon five minutes later on a rolling dive. 

Villanova got a one-minute slashing penalty putting DU up a man, which junior attack Joshua Carlson (Centennial, Colo.) capitalized on to keep extending Denver’s lead. 

Senior attack JJ Sillstrop (Encinitas, Cali.) scored once again for Denver just two minutes later, and two minutes after that, Wilson scored to bring Denver up by eight. Villanova’s scoreless streak came to an end shortly before the end of the period, but Denver had a very comfortable advantage heading into the final period, 10-3. 

Carlson got the fourth period started with his second goal of the game, but Villanova fired back soon after. Junior Ryan Giles (Chevy Chase, Md.) shot back just minutes later to keep the period moving smoothly and the Wildcats fired back two consolation goals before the end of the game. The final score was a 12-6 victory for the Crimson and Gold.

After improving to 5-4 on the season, Denver has two away games in the upcoming week before returning home for Senior Night on April 21 at 7 p.m. to take on Providence College.