No. 19 Men’s Lacrosse Team Opens Great Western Lacrosse League Action With A 17-8 Win Over Quinnipiac

DU MEN’S LACROSSE NEWS

No. 19 Men’s Lacrosse Team Opens Great Western Lacrosse League Action With A 17-8 Win Over Quinnipiac
Senior Adam Goodwin led all scorers with five goals; newcomer Jon Paulson records a hat trick

DENVER-The No. 19 Denver Pioneers opened the Great Western Lacrosse League slate with a convincing 17-8 win over league newcomer, Quinnipiac this afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. DU improves to 7-4 (1-0 GWLL) on the season and 7-0 at home, while the Bobcats fall to 5-4 (0-4 GWLL). Adam Goodwin (Columbus, Ohio) led all scorers with a career-high five goals, while Jon Paulson (Flemington, N.J.) picked up a hat trick for the Pioneers. Austin Konkel (Aurora, Colo.) was impressive in the cage for the Pioneers making eight saves in 60 minutes of action.

“This was a good league win for us,” head coach Jamie Munro said. “It’s nice to start league play with a win, but we’ve got to keep getting better with each game. We have some tough games coming up and we need to build on today’s win and keep improving each time we step onto the field.”

The game was very evenly matched in the early minutes of action. The Bobcats gave Denver all the pressure they could handle on the offensive end and the teams played with out a score for nearly 10 minutes until Ryan Zordani (Littleton, Colo.) put one past CJ Squires to give DU an early 1-0 advantage. Quinnipiac answered a minute later with a quick goal through the left side to tie the game at 1-1. Konkel, starting in his second game this season, came up with some tremendous saves to keep the game close through the first period. DU got a goal from Michael Goltra (Washington, N.C.) at the 9:03 mark to take the early 2-1 lead, but goals by QU’s Erica Trama and Tucker Pruddedn gave the Bobcats the 3-2 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the period. The Pioneers wouldn’t be down for long as Goodwin and Joe Murray (Denver, Colo.) answered with two unassisted goals to give DU the 4-3 advantage at the end of the first period.

The Bobcats started the second period with a goal by Trama 0.53 seconds into the period to notch the game at 4-4, but from that point on the Pioneers dominated the offense in the period scoring two more goals and recording numerous scoring opportunities, as they took a 6-4 lead into the break.

DU started the second half much like it ended the first and the flurry of offensive pressure coupled with high defensive intensity proved too much for the Bobcats. Denver held Quinnipiac scoreless in the third period and added three goals to their tally for an 11-4 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Bobcats managed to score four goals in the final period but couldn’t stop the Pioneers from scoring. Daniel Nickell (Greenwood, Village, Colo.), Andrew Bourke (Denver, Colo.), Brad Richardson (Langley, B.C.) Paulson and Goodwin all recorded scores as DU extended their home win streak to seven games with the 17-8 win.

DU put up 39 shots to the Bobcats 26 and scooped up 45 groundballs in the victory. Both teams were 2-of-4 on man-up opportunities.

The Pioneers continue their four-game homestand April 14 with a pivotal league game against No. 11 Notre Dame. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (MT).

— www.DenverPioneers.com —