No. 17 Men’s Lacrosse Completes First-Ever Undefeated Home Season With 11-8 Win Over Bucknell On Senior Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 16, 2006
MEN’S LACROSSE NEWS

No. 17 Men’s Lacrosse Completes First-Ever Undefeated Home Season With 11-8 Win Over Bucknell On Senior Day
Pioneers finish with a 9-0 record at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium

DENVER-The No. 17 Denver Pioneer men’s lacrosse team concluded its home-schedule with a perfect 9-0 record after defeating Bucknell, 11-8 this afternoon at Barton Stadium. The perfect record marks the first-time in program history that the Pioneers have gone undefeated at home. The Pioneers improve to 9-4 (2-0 GWLL), while Bucknell falls to 5-7 (2-3 Patriot League). Sophomore Brett Koll (Fort Collins, Colo.) led the way for the Pioneers recording a season-high, three goals, for his first hat trick of the season. Brad Richardson (Langley, B.C.) added two goals for DU. Ryan Zordani (Littleton, Colo.) also matched a season-high, dishing out three assists. Jeb Hollingsworth (Darien, Conn.) and Austin Konkel (Aurora, Colo.) both saw time in the cage for the Pioneers. Konkel came up big in the second half making 13 saves.

“This is our first time going undefeated at home and I’m really excited for our team,” head coach Jamie Munro said. “Bucknell is a good team, that is fighting for their playoff lives and they played like it today. They were a tough team to play against but we hung in there and fought and came up with a good win.”

The game was physical from the first whistle with both teams taking it to each other. The Pioneers made a point to be patient on offense moving the ball around the perimeter before taking shots. DU got the first goal of the game at the 12:13 mark of the first when senior Geoff Snider (Calgary, Alberta) snuck one in just behind Bucknell goalie Matt Baran to give DU the 1-0 lead. The Pioneers continued to make moves on offense with several quality scoring chances. Joe Murray (Denver, Colo.) picked up his fourth goal of the season midway through the half to extend DU’s lead to 2-0. The Bison capitalized on a DU penalty and scored their first goal at the 8:55 mark to cut the DU lead to 2-1 and moments later tied the game with a goal from Kirk Klete. Michael Goltra (Washington, N.C.) had an answer and scored his third goal of the weekend, to give Denver a 2-3 lead. Bucknell wouldn’t be down for long as Klete picked up the equalizer a little over four minutes into the second period and seconds later the Bison took a 4-3 lead on a goal by Joe Mele. Zordani connected with Jon Paulson (Flemington, N.J.) who notched the game at 4-4 with just over 10 minutes left in the half. The teams began to trade goals down the stretch but it was Bucknell that took the 7-6 lead into halftime.

The teams played scoreless for the first half of the third period, but Koll put an end an end to the drought, scoring the equalizer at the 8:12 mark of the third. Again the Bison answered regaining the 8-7 lead with a quick goal. Not to be outdone Koll tallied his second goal of the game to tie the game again at 8-8. The teams entered the fourth and final period tied at 8-8. Senior Adam Goodwin (Columbus, Ohio) tallied his 19th goal of the season to put DU up, 9-8. The Pioneers wouldn’t trail again as Koll and Richardson scored the games final two goals to give DU the 11-8 win and the programs first-ever undefeated season.

The Pioneers hit the road for two crucial Great Western Lacrosse League matches next weekend. DU takes on Ohio State for sole possession of first place in the GWLL on April 21 and then heads to Indianapolis for a league match with Butler on April 23.

— www.DenverPioneers.com —