If you can imagine playing the game you love in front of nearly 30,000 people, then you can imagine how the men’s lacrosse team felt on Saturday when they played Ohio State. The crowd at Ohio Stadium in Columbus where Ohio State and Denver went head to head broke records.

“It was a very exciting atmosphere,” said Head Coach Jamie Munro. “It was the largest crowd in NCAA regular season lacrosse history.”

The crowd that gathered at Ohio Stadium on Saturday reached 29,601.

Denver lost 20-13 to No. 11-ranked Ohio State, Denver’s first loss in league play this season.

“We need to have better coordination with our team defense and we need to posses the ball more on offense,” said Munro. This loss affects the team’s standings and lowers its RPI from 12 to 17.

“A win would have given us the first seed in the Great Western Lacrosse League playoff. Now we will likely be 2 or 3,” said Munro.

He is confident that DU will rebound from this loss for their upcoming game against Air Force.

“We need to be more disciplined at both ends of the field for Air Force,” said Coach Munro. “I’m sure we will.”

Though the team lost the game, freshman Jamie Lincoln managed to score three goals during the game, making it his 12th multi-goal game of the season. He now has scored 38 goals this season, breaking the DU Division I scoring record. The record was previously 36, and was set by current assistant coach Matt Brown in 2005.

The Pioneers were down from the beginning in their game against Ohio, but tied early when sophomore Ilija Gajic scored unassisted in the first quarter. This was the only time they were tied in the game.

After Gajic’s goal for Denver, Ohio scored six goals without a comeback from Denver, putting the Pioneers down 7-1 early in the second quarter.

Sophomore John Dickensoon put the Pioneers back on the board again with a goal in the second, rallying the team. Senior Jon Paulson also scored at the end of the first half, but Ohio was still leading 13-3 at the end of the second quarter.

Dickenson recorded his second goal of the game with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter. His goal brought DU within 6 of Ohio, but the team could not come back enough to get the win. The game ended with a final score of 20-13.

Dickenson, Gajic and junior Cliff Smith each had two goals in the game. Denver had more shots on goal than the Buckeyes; 45 to their 39.

Junior Austin Konkel had 9 saves for Denver against Ohio State.

Pioneers fall to 3-1 in conference play and if they are victorious this weekend they will be the No. 2 seed heading into the GWLL conference tournament May 2 and 4 in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

The Pioneers end the regular season on Saturday when the play at Air Force at 1 p.m.