by DENVER — Tewaaraton Watch List honoree Wesley Berg (Coquitlam, B.C.) broke the school record for points in the first 30 minutes, scoring seven and assisting on three others as the [5/5] University of Denver men’s lacrosse team improved to 2-0 in the BIG EAST with a 15-4 win over Villanova on Friday night at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
Fellow Tewaaraton Watch List member Connor Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, N.Y.) had his fourth seven-point game of the season with three goals and four assists. Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-AmericanZach Miller (Steamburg, N.Y.) had his third three-assist game of the campaign finishing with four points on a goal and three helpers.
Freshman FOGO Trevor Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) finished 15-of-21 from the faceoff X, picking up seven ground balls off faceoffs on Friday night. Senior goalie Ryan LaPlante (Fort Collins, Colo.) and the defense in front of him had a night to remember as well, as LaPlante made five saves and allowed just three goals.
The two teams traded goals in the opening 9:33 before Denver (8-2, 2-0 BIG EAST) exploded for a 10-0 run to close the first half. Berg had three of his seven first-half goals in the first quarter. The Denver senior scored the Pioneers first five goals of the game, and seven of their first 10. Cannizzaro had four points in the first half with a goal and three assists in the opening 30 minutes. Nine of Denver’s first 11 goals were assisted. Villanova’s (5-5, 0-2 BIG EAST) first half strike came from Danny Seibel.
Villanova held a 2-1 edge in the third quarter with Denver’s strike coming from Cannizzaro.
Miller opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to make it 13-3, and junior midfielder Colin Woolford (Norwalk, Conn.) scored just over two minutes later to stretch the lead to 11 off Cannizzaro’s fourth assist of the evening. The Maryland transfer completed his sixth hat trick of the season and the 10th of his career in the fourth quarter with a man-up goal off Miller’s third assist of the night.
Denver opens its BIG EAST road slate with its second trip to New York, this time to take on St. John’s on April 11 at 11 a.m. MT. The game will be streamed live on The BIG EAST Digital Network.
Tickets are on sale now for the 2015 NCAA Quarterfinals at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Fans can purchase tickets for the quarterfinal games at the link here.
Notes:
- Bill Tierney is now 346-118 all-time (31st season) and 74-25 at DU (sixth season).
- Denver is now 72-14 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, including 41-5 under head coach Bill Tierney (built in 2005).
- Wes Berg increased his team-leading active-point streak to 29 games (entered week 12th in nation), while Zach Miller increased his to 28 (entered week 16th in the nation).
- Denver is now 29-9 as a top-5 team, including 9-2 as the No. 5 team.
- The Pioneers are now 15-1 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium as a top-5 team.
- Today’s matchup produced the 21st sellout since Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium was built in 2005. The crowd of 2,715 is the fourth largest home number in program history.
