Men's Lacrosse, Men's Sports

Pioneers Use 17-Goal First Half to Cruise to Second-Straight BIG EAST Victory

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Two nights ago, it was Denver Hockey that used a 5-goal explosion in the second period to beat archrival Colorado College. Two days later, in the first of Denver Athletics’ massively busy Gameday Saturday, it was Denver Men’s Lacrosse (4-2, 2-0 BIG EAST) that used a 17-goal first-half explosion to beat BIG EAST opponent Providence (1-2, 1-1 BIG EAST) by a final score of 23-10. The first half alone cemented this game as Denver’s biggest, most productive game offensively so far this year thanks, in part, to Jackson Morrill (4g, 3a) and Alex Simmons (3g, 4a) each accounting for 7 points.

With most of the starters spending the better part of the second half on the bench with the game well in hand, it opened the door for the Pioneers to have four different players record a hat trick. In addition to Morrill and Simmons, Jack Hannah and Drew Erickson each scored at least three goals. Those four players, though, accounted for just 13 of DU’s 23 goals on the day. In other words, thanks to contributions from the entirety of the roster – 13 different Pioneers found the back of the net for the fourth time in program history – the game was never in doubt.

“It’s not really a complaint or even concern, but when Ethan Walker and Teddy Sullivan each only have one goal in a game like this, you’re surprised,” DU head coach Bill Tierney said. “But Simmons had a great game, Morrill had a great game, and that many goal-scorers is obviously a good thing.”

This was the kind of performance that most men’s lacrosse fans expected from Denver’s talented offensive attack. After adding Jackson Morrill and Lucas Cotler to what was already going to be a potent offense, it was a bit of a shock to see the offense struggle the way it did at times up until today. But today, in front of around 100 fans, that vaunted attack finally showed everything it’s capable of doing. Faceoff specialist Alec Stathakis’ and Brett Boos’ combined 22-for-36 day at the X certainly helped matters but usually, when you score on 23 of 31 shots on goal in this sport, usually good things happen.

“We had hoped this [kind of game] was coming as this was the first time all season that we had a chance to do a full scout on our opponent,” Tierney added, “Every other game this year, it was their first game of the year so we didn’t have any film to go on.”

After a rough trip to North Carolina, losing to both Duke (12-10) and North Carolina (24-13), running the table in the BIG EAST against teams that are not Georgetown (though, sweeping the Hoyas would help), and winning in convincing fashion is now a necessity for the Pioneers. A 10-9 victory at Marquette last weekend was a start but it was this dominant victory that DU will need to replicate over the final eight games of the year.

Highlights

Top Photo of Jackson Morrill against Utah: Denver Athletics

3 thoughts on “Pioneers Use 17-Goal First Half to Cruise to Second-Straight BIG EAST Victory”

  2. Lots of box type goals and assists today by our Canadians. Riley Curtis finally healthy and Ellis Geis back also. Dunker optimistic.

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  3. Pingback: LetsGoDU - Covering all things Crimson and Gold: Women’s Soccer, Men’s Lacrosse & Hockey Highlight Weekend Results

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