Voluntarily subjecting one’s body to a solid rubber ball, facing shots that reach over 100 miles per hour, while wearing the only additional protection of a throat and chest protector, all to protect a six-foot by six-foot and seven-foot deep cage, requires a uniquely-oriented individual. Continue reading Between the pipes, Pioneers are Ready for deep postseason run
There’s still one week left in the regular season, but the #2 University of Denver Pioneers men’s lacrosse team now knows it will be the #1 seed for the BIG EAST Conference Tournament in Providence. Thanks to a 12-2 victory over the only team that could catch them in the standings and the hosts of the conference tournament, the Providence College Friars. Continue reading Pioneers clinch #1 seed in BIG EAST Tournament with Senior Day win over Providence
Photo: Inside Lacrosse
It was the Trevor Baptiste record-setting show, as the junior from Denville, N.J. set a DU career record and tied another to lead the Denver Pioneers to a 20-11 Big East League men’s lacrosse victory over the Georgetown Hoyas before a sellout crowd on a dreary gray day at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
Baptiste became the University of Denver’s all-time face-off leader in just his junior year, setting the school record with 736 wins in passing DU legends Chase Carraro and Geoff Snider, going 26-for-30 on the day. The possession advantage Baptiste created helped the Pioneers to season high 20 goal output, the most DU has scored since 2012. The Pioneers had a balanced attack behind 11 different goal scorers, but the 4-goal, 5-assist assist performance from senior All American Connor Cannizzaro led the way offensively with nine points, moving him into a tie for 3rd place all time in DU scoring with Todd Dickson (199 points), and behind Mark Matthews (216 points) and Wes Berg’s 255 career points.
Baptiste also tied Ben Wahler’s 2008 school record with his 26 face-off wins on the day and moved into ninth place on the all time NCAA career lacrosse face-off winners list – incredible for a player only two-thirds of his way through his junior season. He also picked up 17 ground balls on the day, and even scored a goal.
“Baptiste was so tenacious,” said DU coach Bill Tierney of his face-off star after the game. “He did so many different moves against five different face off [opponents]…we’re glad he’s on our side.”
Indeed the only way the Hoyas could even slow Baptiste was to put all three long pole players into the face-off play, which Georgetown did in the second half.
The Pioneers (7-2 overall, 1-0 Big East) broke open a close 8-6 halftime lead with an eight goals, including seven unanswered in a dominant 11 minutes of the third quarter to delight another sellout home crowd and put away the somewhat snakebit Hoyas, who fell to 2-8 on the season, and 0-1 in Big East pay.
“I was little emotional at halftime,” Tierney said, referring to what was likely a paint-peeling halftime address to his Pioneers, who were sloppy and sluggish with too many turnovers and some lazy play in the first half. “We weren’t playing well in the first half, but we were scoring goals and winning face-offs…We needed to make sure we got a good convincing win and we did that.”
Besides Baptiste’s dominance at the X, Sophomore goalie Alex Ready woke up from a tough 3-save first half to make four third quarter saves to help change the momentum of the game to finish with seven saves on the day.
Daniel Buccaro was the top offensive bright spot for Georgetown, with a three goal hat trick to go with three assists on the day.
The Pioneers stay home in Denver this week to face Big East rival Villanova next Saturday at 12 pm MT.
Denver-Notre Dame. It’s never a straightforward 10-7 game when these two teams meet. It always comes down to the final seconds and, recently, it’s always taken overtime. It seemed like that was going to happen again today as it was tied 10-10 in the waning seconds of the game, but the #5 University of Denver Pioneers’ Connor Cannizzaro had a different idea as he scored with the clock reading 0:00. Continue reading Cannizzaro’s last-second heroics lift Denver over Notre Dame in instant classic
Tyler Pace returned to the field, Ethan Walker netted a hat trick, and that’s about all that went well for the #1 University of Denver Pioneers today as they fell 13-9 to the #6 North Carolina Tarheels at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Denver was never competitive and the Tarheels led the game wire to wire. Continue reading Pioneers suffer “setback” in 13-9 loss to North Carolina
Creating a dominant, lethal defense, capable of shutting down opposing attacks with force and strategy is a science. The iterative process through trial and error to identity the balance between tenacity and tactic, University of Denver defensive coordinator John Orsen has created such.
Through a new system of “controlled aggressiveness” introduced this season, Orsen has revamped Denver’s defensive style of play. Continue reading “Controlled aggressiveness” guides Denver’s top defensive line
It may not have been made for television, and thank goodness it wasn’t televised, but the #1 University of Denver Pioneers rose above sloppy play and took advantage of many mistakes made by the Cleveland State Vikings to win 19-6 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Continue reading Denver dominates Cleveland State 19-6 in sloppy game
At this very moment on Feb. 20, 2017, for the first time in history, our two flagship sports, ice hockey and men’s lacrosse, are both ranked #1 in the country in all the major polls of those two sports.
For our small private school in the Rockies with 5,500 undergrads and a budget 1/10th the size of some of the large D-I football powers, with our opponents spread out all over the country and requiring jet planes to get to 85% of DU away games, this is an astonishing, epic achievement.
Additionally, our men’s soccer team finished #3 in the country this fall. And our women’s gymnastics team is currently ranked #8 in the country, the highest the program has ever been ranked. And DU women’s lacrosse is undefeated this year and ranked #14/15 in the country. And our nationally ranked swim teams (#20 men’s and #26 women’s) just swept the podium in EVERY EVENT at the Summit League Championships last week.
I say all this because we need to take a moment to realize just how frickin’ good our athletics program is right now. No program in the country gets better performance for the buck than DU does. And now is the time to tell your friends from bigger schools that the Pioneers are on top of the country in two sports. Let’s hope both can end their seasons with a National Championship.
For those of us oldsters who remember the days when DU played hockey in a decrepit old WWII surplus naval drill hall and DU lacrosse played mostly clubs and small colleges on muddy fields in front of 50 people, we can only say how proud we are to see just how far DU has come as a national sports power.
Go Pios!
Earlier today, the #1 University of Denver Pioneers men’s lacrosse team ran past Duke 14-9 thanks in large part to star FOGO Trevor Baptiste’s incredible second half at the X. As DU head coach Bill Tierney notes below, Duke is a better team than many are giving them credit for in the early going, so this is an important victory for the Crimson and Gold. Continue reading WATCH: Connor Cannizzaro, Trevor Baptiste, & Bill Tierney talk Duke win
Between the third and fourth quarters today at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, junior All-American FOGO Trevor Baptiste won six straight faceoffs to lead the #1 University of Denver Pioneers to a big 14-9 victory over the #15 Duke University Blue Devils. Continue reading Trevor Baptiste spurs second half run as Pioneers run past Duke, 14-9
