Photo by: Ryan Lumpkin
Head coach Bill Tierney and senior attackman Mark Matthews achieved individual accomplishments last weekend as the team swept the DU Face-Off Classic, recovering from an opening game loss on Feb. 26 to Ohio State.
Tierney notched his 300th career victory on Saturday afternoon, becoming only the fifth head coach to eclipse that mark, as the No. 12/14 Pioneers (2-1) defeated Michigan (0-4) 17-5 in front of a sell-out crowd at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
On Sunday, it was Matthews celebrating a career feat as he surpassed associate head coach and former Pioneer Matt Brown to become DU’s all-time Division I goal-scorer, propelling DU with five points (three goals, two assists) to a 21-8 victory over Robert Morris in the final game of the tournament.
“We are not about individual things, but for me, watching Mark Matthews grow up as a young man has been really fulfilling,” said Tierney after Sunday’s victory. “If points, goals and assists come with that, then that’s wonderful. We cherish Mark being on our team – we wouldn’t be who we are without him – and for him to break Matt Brown’s record is interesting because I’m around both those guys everyday, and they’re both great players, and they’re great men. And as we talked about yesterday with the 300th win, it’s just special to be doing all this here.”
Matthews bested Brown in the first quarter, recording his 114th career goal as a Pioneer. While Matthews acknowledged the career accomplishment, he was quick to note that the importance of the weekend stemmed from the team’s ability to come back from their opening loss a week earlier.
“It’s obviously a great accomplishment, but getting a team win like this means more [to me] with guys like Eric [Law] putting up five goals and other guys putting up three goals,” said Matthews. “It’s definitely nice to beat a guy like Brownie, but it’s a team game and that’s my focus. We’re riding high right now after two big wins and it’s important we keep it going, next weekend is crucial.”
After a disappointing performance against the Buckeyes to open the season, the Pioneers were able to rack up 38 goals this past weekend, dominating both Michigan and RMU in categories such as shots, ground balls and face-offs.
Despite the wins, Denver still managed to drop from No. 10/12 to No. 12/14 in the polls.
Tierney believes avenging the loss will be a crucial element to the rest of this season, as the Pioneers aim to return to the Final Four.
“That Ohio State game is going to stick with us for a long, long time – maybe all year long. If we can use that as motivation as we did this weekend, then I believe that’s a good thing,” said Tierney. “We are always looking for perfection, and maybe that’s not fair, but the guys responded this weekend and we were very unselfish offensively. Hopefully, we can chip away one game at a time and one day, we’ll get a chance to avenge that Ohio State loss.”
While Tierney and Matthews enjoyed career weekends, it was junior Eric Law who shined on the field, earning tournament MVP honors behind 10 total points on nine goals and one assist.
The Colorado native led all scorers in both contests, but Denver had several notable performers throughout the weekend, including juniors Cameron Flint and Chase Carraro and sophomores Jeremy Noble and Jamie Faus.
“Individual accomplishments aren’t great because this is a team game, and once again today, all my goals were assisted,” said Law after Sunday’s contest. “I thought our middies played great, very smart. I was on the lucky end of great passing.”
Law has filled in brilliantly for the graduated Todd Baxter as the Pioneers’ third attackman, leading the team in goals with 11 total through three games.
“Mark and Alex [Demopolous] are great to play with; they make my job really easy,” said Law on Saturday. “All the attention is centered on them, and that allows me to fit into spaces where people don’t see me and get easy looks.”
With the Pioneers scoring early and often in both contests, the inexperienced defensive unit was able to come together, shutting down RMU’s run-and-gun offense and building confidence over the two game span.
“It’s difficult to play two different types of styles,” said Law. “Michigan slows it down a lot and Robert Morris plays a lot in transition. We had to game plan for that earlier this morning and our defense did a great job at executing it.”
Juniors Kyle Hercher and Drew Babb and freshman Carson Cannon were anchors on the defensive end, with Babb earning individual honors.
“Kyle, Drew and Carson are going to have to be iron men this season for us, and they’ve been playing at a high level all season,” said Tierney. “Guys like Nick Gorman, Mike Riis, Henry Miketa, Terry Ellis and Cal Kennedy all played well this weekend.”
While many coaches would have hit the panic button after last week’s upset loss, Tierney’s presence in the locker room and on the field has guided the Pioneers through the early part of the season, according to his players.
“He’s one of the greatest coaches in any sport,” said Law on Saturday. “Anytime you can get win No. 300, I think it says a lot about what kind of person you are, not just as a coach, and he’s one of the greatest of all time.”
The Pioneers remain at home this week, where they will host Hartford on Saturday at 1 p.m.
