The Denver men’s lacrosse team stunned the University of Maryland Terrapins 12-9 on Saturday afternoon in a fall-season exhibition game at the first ever Seatown Classic at the Starfire Sports Campus in Tukwila, Wash.
The Seatown Classic became the first NCAA Division I lacrosse game played in the Seattle area.
“I’m just really happy that our guys came and competed against a great Maryland team,” said head coach Bill Tierney.
“That’s all we told them to do, just come out and compete. We knew the score wasn’t going to mean a lot, but we wanted to come out and compete against a Maryland team that has made it to the National Championship game the last two years.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Ryan LaPlante was honored as the Seatown Classic Player of the Game after finishing the game with nine saves and seven goals allowed in 45 minutes of play while also scoring his first collegiate goal.
Leading the Pioneers in scoring was senior attackman Eric Law with five points off three goals and two assists, while junior midfielder Michael Pirone and freshman attackman Gordie Koerber each added two goals.
Also scoring for the Pioneers were sophomore midfielders Wes Berg and Tyler Ekeroth and seniors midfielder Cam Flint and attackman Tyler Simmons. Senior midfielder Chase Carraro finished the game after winning 11 of 18 face-offs, tallying one assist and snagging five ground balls.
Sophomore attackman Eric Adamson and senior midfielder Taylor Young both finished with two assists each, while Simmons also tallied one assist.
Senior midfielder Chase Calkin also took six face-offs, winning four of them and scooping up two ground balls. Also seeing time in the goal were junior Erik Carter and freshman Joe Gigantiello.
Maryland’s Jack Bemhardt opened the scoring four minutes into the game before the Pioneers answered with two goals from LaPlante and Law. Maryland’s Kevin Cooper knotted the score 2-2 with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Law answered again with 3:27 remaining to put the Pioneers back up 3-2 before Cooper knotted the game once again, scoring the final goal of the first quarter to make the game 3-3.
Denver went on a three-goal run to start the second quarter, as Berg, Ekeroth and Law each tossed a goal in. Maryland’s Owen Blye snapped the streak at 5:55 in the quarter before Pirone answered at 4:13 to put the Pioneers up 7-4 as they headed into the locker room.
The Terrapins went on a streak of their own coming out of the locker room, scoring three straight goals to knot the game 7-7 before Koerber stepped in. Koerber threw in back-to-back goals to snap Maryland’s run and give Denver a 9-7 lead.
Maryland’s Bradlee Lord scored with 53 seconds left in the third quarter, but Flint stretched the lead back with a goal from Adamson with six seconds left in the quarter.
James Carlson of Maryland started the fourth-quarter scoring less than three minutes in and remained the lone scorer until Denver stretched the lead back to two goals as Pirone scored with 1:41 remaining.
In the final 30 seconds of the game, Simmons made the final goal to put the Pioneers up to the final 12-9 score.
The Denver goalie squad finished the day with 14 saves to Maryland’s 10 and won 15 of 25 face-offs.
This game also marked the Pioneers’ first opportunity to adjust to the new rules put in place by the NCAA.
The rules include a new 30-second rule, which states that a team must take a shot within 30 seconds of a stall warning. Also added were more stick regulations, quicker restarts of play and some new face-off regulations.
“It was a really fast-paced game with all the new regulations and getting used to that, but we are a fast-paced team,” said LaPlante. “I thought the defense looked great, offense looked great and our coaches have done great with preparing us in practice for these new rules.”
The Pioneers return home to host the annual alumni weekend this weekend.
DU will host the annual alumni game Saturday at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Fourth Annual Colorado Lacrosse Showcase against the Denver Outlaws at 1:30 p.m.
