Photo:Courtesy of Georgetown Athletics

Denver had another slow start and trailed the Georgetown Hoyas 3-1 at the end of the first half in Washington, D.C.. Denver got their only goal from Austin French on a feed from Ethan Walker at 10:16 of the first quarter. However, Georgetown owned a 2-1 advantage at the end of the quarter and picked up another goal in the second quarter.

Just like the prior weekend, it was Senior Trevor Baptiste who would ignite the Denver comeback in the second half.

Walker pulled the Pioneers within one goal with an unassisted tally to make it 3-2 to open the scoring in the second half. But the Hoyas’ Craig Berge completed his hat trick in the third quarter to take the Hoyas advantage to two – 4-2. However, just like the prior week against Towson, a faceoff win and unassisted goal from Trevor Baptists would fuel a Denver comeback at 14:51 of the 4th quarter. Denver’s Joe Reid pulled Denver even exactly two minutes later on an unassisted goal. DU’s winning goal came from Colin Rutan, unassisted, with 7:20 left. Denver’s goalie, Josh Matte (3-0), made three saves in the final quarter to seal the match while DU played stout defense and controlled the ball.

Denver had 10 turnovers to Georgetown’s 11 for the game. Baptiste was 12 of 15 (80%) from the X to give the Pioneers a decisive possession advantage and moved into second place in the all-time record book for faceoff wins.

Georgetown is 0-6 against against the Pioneers since Denver joined the Big East.

However, one has to think that Denver should be holding bigger advantages with Baptiste owning faceoffs. Denver caught pipe on a number of occasions and flat out missed some close-in shots. Add a slow start, double digit turnovers and the #3 Pioneers have been living dangerously the past several weeks.

Denver faces Villanova on April 7th in Villanova, Pennsylvania.