Photo: Courtesy of Marquette Twitter

DU (12-2, 5-0) finally stopped the Marquette Golden Eagles (6-8, 3-2) after a furious forth quarter rally which narrowed a 4-goal Pioneer lead to just one goal. However, timely goals by DU pushed the advantage back to two goals and, eventually,  an open net tally by DU’s Austin French put the final nail in the coffin and sent the Golden Eagles to defeat.

Denver started out fast with a 4-1 first quarter advantage. Marquette clawed back DU’s advantage by one goal over the next 15 minutes and the first half ended 5-3 in Denver’s favor. Denver extended their lead in the third quarter to make it 7-3  capped by a Danny Logan coast-to-coast goal with 6 seconds left in the 3rd period. But Marquette closed the gap after several untimely DU penalties and man-up advantages against Denver.  

The 10-7 win was also notable for Trevor Baptiste with 14 critical faceoff wins from the X. The faceoff wins were enough to gave Baptiste 1118 for his career and an NCAA record for the three-time All American and Tewaarton finalist.

Austin French’s 5-goals and an assist topped the Pioneers scorers. Ethan Walker had two goals and one each from Colin McCaffrey, Joe Reid and Danny Logan. The Denver win halted a 2-game Big EAST championship playoff losing streak to the Golden Eagles and nearly ensures DU a berth in the NCAA playoffs. However, a Big EAST final win Saturday will likely give DU a home NCAA playoff game.

Denver continued their run of stellar defensive play. Josh Matte gave up 7 goals and stopped another 4 shots. Cole Blazer gave up 10 goals and saved 9 shots for Marquette. The Pioneers advance to the Big EAST finals in Villanova, Pennsylvania on Saturday against the winner of the Georgetown – Villanova game this evening.