NCAA Selection Show @ 7 PM ESPN-U
The University Denver held off a furious late rally by Fairfield to claim the inaugural ECAC championship with an 11-9 win this afternoon at Barton Stadium. The Pioneers, who also won the ECAC regular-season title, earned the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with the win and extended its winning streak to a program-record 10 wins.
“A great deal of credit needs to go to Fairfield and all those young men that competed and didn't give up for the full 60 minutes,” said head coach Bill Tierney.
“I am proud of our guys for sticking in there and coming up with goals when we needed them, but our team just learned something out there and that is to never give up until that buzzer sounds. I am excited that we were able to secure the first-ever ECAC Championship and to get the automotive qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. It's been a long season, but we're ready to keep playing and show everyone what Denver lacrosse is all about.”
Denver led 11-4 early in the fourth quarter before the Stags mounted their comeback with five consecutive goals to cut the deficit to two goals with 3:04 remaining. The Pioneers sealed the win as goaltender Jamie Faus stopped the Stags final two attempts on goal.
ECAC Player of the Year Mark Matthews, sophomore Eric Law, senior Todd Baxter and junior Alex Demopoulos scored two goals each for Denver and Faus earned his 12th win of the season with 13 saves.
Freshman Jeremy Noble, sophomore Hayden Schuette and tournament MVP Chase Carraro also scored, while Carraro dominated face-offs by winning 16 of 22 draws.
6 comments:
Congrats to the Pios.
Now comes white knuckle time to see if the Pios get to host an NCAA game as a top 8 finisher.
DU is top 8 in RPI, but with less 'quality' wins than other teams ranked below them, DU might not be seeded in the top 8 and might get sent somewhere as an at-large team.
The reality is that DU has a hard time in scheduling as a lot of good Eastern teams just won't come to Denver, so it's hard for DU to have the opportunity for quality wins as other Eastern schools get due to proximity.
DU home vs. Villanova 5/15 at 5:15 PM
Awesome.
This needs to be a big event.
I am calling for Boone, the Band, Cheerleaders, Dance Team to be there!
The game is at 3:15 MT,
1st NCAA tournament game west of the Mississippi. Now time for the Pios to get their 1st Tourney win.
Game is on ESPNU HD
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