Lacrosse, Men's Sports

Denver Defense Stifles Villanova 12-6 on Bill Tierney Day

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It was only fitting that on Bill Tierney Day, Denver men’s lacrosse (5-4, 1-1) defense rose to the special occasion. While Tierney is the head coach, he focuses on the defensive end of the field. #17/19 DU’s smothering defense, a Tierney staple,  held the No. 11/9  Villanova Wildcats to two goals in the first half.  Tierney’s team shut out Villanova from 4:52 of the first period until 3:44 remained in the third period while reeling off nine goals in a row. Game, set and match as Denver coasted to the BIG EAST win.

It was a defensive struggle from the outset. The teams traded goals in the first quarter and exited the period knotted at 2-2. Michael Lampert and Richie Connell accounted for DU’s goals in the period.

Three more players for DU had goals in the second period while Denver’s defense put the clamps on the visitors. Stephen Avery started the scoring and Ty Hussey doubled up Nova. Casey Wilson put the finishing touches on the three-goal skein, 5-2, at the break.  Malcomb Kleban was solid in goal for Denver. The only issue for Denver during the game was clearing the ball out of the defensive end while showing some uncertainty and carelessness. Otherwise, it was nearly a perfect first half.

Denver came out of the halftime break on fire with five goals, all from different players before Villanova could find the back of the net. The well-rounded attack, combined with smothering defense, had Denver holding a 10-3 lead going into the final quarter.

Denver ran clock in the final period and got goals from Josua Carlson and Ryan Giles to finish off the Wildcats 12-6 and move to 1-1 in conference play.

After the game, when Coach Tierney was asked what the game meant to him said, “Well, one game closer to retirement” as he went on to thank all the people who helped him along the way to his hall-of-fame career. It was a perfect day for Coach T – a BIG EAST win triggered by a stodgy defense. It was a perfect ending to a nearly flawless game. Now, if only Denver could bottle up that effort over the next four regular season conference games and the Big EAST Tournament, Tierney may be further from retirement than he thought.

While Saturday marked a special day for Coach Tierney, another DU lacrosse coach,  Liza Kelly, had her undefeated #13 DU lacrosse team (13-0, 3-0) in Storrs, Connecticut facing the Huskies.  Denver and UConn were tied 3-3 but the Pioneers ran out to a 7-3 lead in the first period and never looked back in a 14-9 win. Denver had balanced scoring as three players had hat tricks – Julia Gilbert, Ryan Dineen, and Sloane Kipp tallied three goals each.

Next up is non-conference rival Stanford next Friday night at 7:00 pm MT at Peter Barton Stadium. The teams are former Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) rivals and DU is 13-18 against the Cardinal. It should be a perfect evening to watch Denver women’s lacrosse as they continue to make history.

We have extended sales from the LetsGoDU lacrosse store until April 10th. You can order Denver Boone and Denver Bonnie lacrosse clothing  HERE. 

Only two days remain!

2 thoughts on “Denver Defense Stifles Villanova 12-6 on Bill Tierney Day”

  1. Perhaps the biggest win of the season so far, keeping DU in the top 20 and making for much nicer Bill Tierney Day celebrations. Good to see DU’s defense clamp down after being shredded by Georgetown! DU now has four top 20 wins – North Carolina, OSU, Villanova, and Utah, which should get them dancing as long as they don’t lose any more games to teams with losing records — Towson, St. Johns or Providence.

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