After a dominant run in Big East play, hopes were high for Denver men’s lacrosse heading into the conference tournament. However, Villanova would put up a fight that caught the Crimson and Gold off-guard. The number four-seeded Wildcats defeated the top-seeded Crimson and Gold, 10-9.
Denver got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter, which allowed Villanova to gain the confidence needed to pull off a large upset. Only one team looked ready to play in the opening exchanges, which the Wildcats took advantage of, going ahead 3-0 within the first five minutes.
After the early onslaught, Denver’s defense settled down, forcing two shot clock violations, but the attack could not get anything going. After going down 4-0, it looked like something magical would have to happen for DU to even score a goal.
Late in the first quarter, magic would strike. With the Villanova goalie out of his net, senior defender Jack DiBenedetto fired a shot from Denver’s defensive zone into the vacated net to get the Crimson and Gold on the board.
The offensive troubles would continue into the second quarter, where DU failed to get any consistent attacking opportunities due to a combination of losing draws and turning the ball over when they did win draws. After dominating in transition all season, Denver was uncharacteristically losing the transition battle in the first half.
Villanova scored the first two goals of the second quarter to make it a 6-1 game, drowning Denver with their intensity. DU would score to make it 6-2 headed into the half, but the Crimson and Gold were on the ropes and needed a response.
They would get that response in the third quarter, throttling the Wildcats throughout the quarter. DU scored five unanswered goals in the quarter to give them a 7-6 lead.
DU took advantage of man-up opportunities early in the quarter to get back in the game. Senior attacker Richie Connell struck first just seconds into the half to show the Wildcats that Denver was not going to go away without a fight.
Senior attacker JJ Sillstrop took advantage of the next man-up opportunity a few minutes later to cut the lead to two. Denver would then go on a scoring frenzy to finish the period.
Junior midfielder Mic Kelly scored another man-up goal to cut the lead to one before Sillstrop put the team on his back to end the quarter. Sillstrop scored back-to-back goals to end the period, which gave Denver a massive boost. It looked like Denver was poised to pull away after an anomaly of a first half.
However, Villanova still had plenty of fight left in them in the fourth quarter, scoring the first two goals of the quarter to retake the lead. Denver would respond thanks to a goal from junior midfielder Jack Tortolani who tied the game at eight.
The two teams exchanged goals to tie the game at nine heading into the final minute, before Luke Raymond would break Denver’s hearts with 36 seconds to go to make it 10-9.
Denver looked to have tied the game in the final seconds after senior midfielder Michael Lampert made a driving run and then beat the goalie at the buzzer. However, the goal was called off due to an interference call, which the Denver bench could not believe. However, the call was upheld after video review, and Villanova would win the game 10-9.
Denver has officially claimed home-field advantage for the first round of the NCAA tournament. They will take on the University of Michigan as the fifth seed in the tournament on Saturday at 3 p.m at Peter Barton Stadium.
