It was a first half to forget on Senior Day at Peter Barton Stadium. The Providence Friars raced out to a 9-2 halftime lead following a comedy of errors by DU (7-6, 3-4). Half of DU’s goals, one, were scored by the Friars to finally get DU on the board in the half. DU had 10 first-half turnovers and could only muster 6 shots on-goal. DU was pushed to the perimeter on offense and the Friars initiated their offense from behind the cage and fed cutters for easy goals.

To start the second half, DU scored three straight goals from Noah Manning, Cody Malawsky and Joshua Carlson to pull within four goals, 9-5. However, Denver could never close the gap as the Friars’ Ryan Bell scored to double up DU to end the third period, 10-5. The Pioneers Marek Tzagournis scored the only goal in the final fifteen minutes as the game ended 10-6.

The Denver men went 8-of-20 from the ‘X’ and committed 19 turnovers in the critical home conference loss. Now, DU must travel to Milwaukee Friday to face Marquette in a must-win game for a spot in the Big EAST tournament.

DU women’s lax (11-5, 4-1) has been on fire, winning 7 of their last 8 games. The sole loss was a strange overtime defeat to Connecticut, 14-13. The streak includes today’s trouncing of the Butler Bulldogs and impressive road wins against Stanford and Colorado.

A nine-goal second-quarter barrage at Peter Barton ignited a 14-1 first-half beat down. The Pioneers coasted from there to a 21-3 win over the Bulldogs. Lauren Black led the charge with five goals and four assists. Olivia Ripple finished with 3 goals and 4 assists. The DU defense smothered Butler as they could only muster six shots-on-goal.

The home regular season concludes for DU women’s Lacrosse next Saturday at Peter Barton Stadium. Both teams, Villanova and Denver, stand atop the Big EAST at 4-1. Georgetown also holds a 4-1 record.