Pioneer Men’s Lacrosse Team Records Eight Goals In The Second Half To Defeat Sacred Heart, 10-6

MEN’S LACROSSE NEWS
For Immediate Release – March 12, 2006

Pioneer Men’s Lacrosse Team Records Eight Goals In The Second Half To Defeat Sacred Heart, 10-6
Senior Geoff Snider and junior Brandon Barcus lead the Pioneers in the come-from-behind win.

DENVER- The No. 12 ranked Denver Pioneer men’s lacrosse team came back from a 4-2 deficit at halftime to defeat the Sacred Heart Pioneers, 10-6 this afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. DU improves to 4-1 (0-0 GWLL) on the season while Sacred Heart falls to 0-4 (0-0 CAA). Geoff Snider (Calgary, Alberta), Todd Ruport (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Brandon Barcus (Dublin, Ohio) each recorded two goals in the win and goalkeeper Jeb Hollingworth (Darien, Conn.) made four saves in 60 minutes of action.

The Pioneers came out sluggish against the Sacred Heart Pioneers giving them countless scoring opportunities in the first stanza. Sacred Heart got on the board first with a quick goal through the right side from Mike Collins, to give them the early 1-0 lead. The quick goal gave Sacred Heart a little momentum and SHU tallied two more quick goals on back-to-back scores from Kiel Adams giving the Sacred Heart Pioneers a 3-0 lead, the first time the Pioneers have been down at home this season. Mike Goltra (Washington, N.C.) tried to jumpstart the offense with a goal at the 4:50 mark to cut the SHU lead to 3-1 just before the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter featured more of the same as the Sacred Heart Pioneers continued to pound the ball down the field, but DU picked up their offensive presence as well and racked up several quality scoring chances that Sacred Heart’s Jim Milhausen stymied. After trailing in shot attempts through the first quarter and most of the second quarter, DU started to test Milhausen by firing several shots from both long range and close range that just couldn’t make it into the net. Ryan Zordani (Littleton, Colo.) finally put one past Milhausen with just under six minutes left in the half on a great pass from Adam Miller (Columbus, Ohio) to cut the lead to 3-2 late in the second quarter. Freshman Brad Richardson (Langley, B.C.) almost had the equalizer late in the quarter but it was ruled no goal as Richardson was in the crease. The Sacred Heart Pioneers got one past goalkeeper Hollingsworth with just 24 seconds remaining in the half as the Sacred Heart Pioneers took a 4-2 lead into the break.

DU held a 28-16 shots advantage at the break and had an 11-7 shots on goal advantage despite trailing. Snider was 5-of-8 on face-offs through the half.

Sacred Heart came out in the second half much like they ended the first tallying a goal from Peter Greco less than a minute into the third quarter giving them a 5-2 lead. Zordani and Barcus tried to rally the Pioneers as they both rattled off point-blank range shots that both went just wide. Ryan Schaugnessy (Columbus, Ohio) found Barcus right in front of the net for the DU score to cut the lead to 5-3 with 12 minutes to go in the third quarter. Barcus again found the back of the net on a pretty pass right in front of SHU’S Milhausen to cut the lead to one goal with 8:37 left in the frame. SHU put one past Hollingsworth to increase their lead to 6-4 with just under seven minutes left in the quarter. Todd Ruport (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Snider put the Pioneers on their back and recorded back-to-back goals to tie the game at 6-6 with a little over four minutes left in the quarter. The Pioneers used the momentum to their advantage and took their first lead of the afternoon on goals by Ruport and Adam Goodwin (Columbus, Ohio) giving them an 8-6 lead.

The Pioneers kept the momentum they picked up from recording six unanswered goals in the third quarter and Snider tallied another goal five seconds into the fourth quarter to give DU a 9-6 lead with 14 minutes left in the game. Brett Koll (Fort Collins, Colo.) tallied the Pioneers final goal with one minute left to take give the Pioneers a 10-6 lead. Denver’s defense held and the Pioneers recorded their fourth win of the season.

DU outshot SHU 50-26 and held a 49-30 groundball advantage for the game. Sacred Heart turned the ball over 45 times to DU’s 36. Snider was 11-of-19 from the face-off circle while Sacred Heart was only 8-of-19.

DU will next be in action March 25 when they hit the road for a game with Maryland-Baltimore County. The Pioneers return to Peter Barton Stadium March 28 when they host Drexel in the first night game of the season.


- www.DenverPioneers.com -


Jessica Poole
Media Relations Assistant
University of Denver
Work Phone: 303-871-3392
Home Phone: 734-216-1678
Fax: 303-871-3890
Email: jpoole3@du.edu

GO PIONEERS!