Saturday saw both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams face off against opponents from the East Coast in Peter Barton Stadium, and both teams were as hot as the weather.
Women
The women faced the Hofstra Pride and won 15-9 coming off back-to-back losses on the road, both of which went to double overtime.
The Pioneers were led by senior Tanya Fuchs with five goals and added two ground balls.
Fuchs said, “I couldn’t have done without my teammates” and added, “It was a whole team effort, just because I scored 5 goals doesn’t mean it was all me.”
Fuchs received assists from Leggio, Morton, and Coyne on three of her goals. Kristie Leggio, also a DU senior, put three in the net and added two assists and four ground balls.
Leggio said after the game, “It felt good. I think that we came out as a group with a lot of intensity and I think that helps each individual play a better game.”
Stephanie Greenlees and Karen Morton both contributed two assists and two goals for the Pioneers, while Natasha Davies added a game high five ground balls. Denver had more turnovers than Hofstra, giving the ball up 15 times to Hofstra’s 14, and was also out shot, 29-28; however, DU picked up nine more ground balls than the Pride and also cleared the ball 16 times to Hofstra’s nine.
“Coming into the game we knew that we had to demonstrate and execute patience and composure throughout our game,” said Head Coach Cathy Reese, “We did a great job on the offensive end dong the little things to get our players open which allowed us to get our shots.”
Denver’s goalie, sophomore Becky Childs, had 11 saves compared to a combined five saves for both of Hofstra’s goalies.
While Denver was outshot, the scoreboard denoted that Hofstra was outscored allowing Denver to move up to 3-2 on the season and remain undefeated at home.
The Pioneers will play at home again this weekend when they face UC- Davis, which will mark the first conference game of the season.
Men
The men took on the Colgate Red Raiders whom they defeated 14-5. Denver got out to an early lead, getting the first four points on the board.
Colgate came within one at the beginning of the second period by scoring three straight but then Denver got hot and scored four more in the first half, and added another six in the second. Denver outshot the Red Raiders 51-29 and also grabbed 51 ground balls to Colgate’s 21.
Freshman Brad Richardson led the Pioneers with four goals off the bench, while senior Geoff Snider contributed a game high 12 ground balls, two assists, and one goal, also winning 14 of 23 face offs.
“We’re running We’re working hard, hard, we’re practicing hard. We’re playing like a team out there, its great,” Snider said after the game.
Denver’s goalie Jeb Hollingsworth had eight saves in 49 minutes only allowing four goals, while back up goalie Austin Konkel had 5 saves in the final ten minutes only giving up one goal.
“When we were pulling away they could have caught up with some pointblank opportunities, but we had good goal tending. The offensive did a nice job and our defense was dominating, it was good,” said Head Coach Jamie Munro.
Tri Captain Bart Sullivan picked up five ground balls and helped apply the pressure on defense. After the game Sullivan said, “We wore them out; we are a lot deeper than most teams in the nation, and we can put anyone in at anytime, getting fresh guys on the field.”
Snider also commented on the defense saying, “Our focus is to get all over teams and take them out of their game. When our defense is running around and taking the ball away they are working their butts off, offensively we have to keep the ball in possession to give those guys a break and obviously score goals.”
Denver advances to 3-1 on the season as Colgate falls to 2-1. The Pioneers will take on Sacred Heart next weekend in Peter Barton Stadium.
