The top-seeded University of Denver men’s lacrosse team defeated Rutgers 14-7 in the Big East Semifinals at Villanova Stadium Thursday. The win advances the Pioneers to Saturday’s Championship game where they will face No. 3 seed Villanova at 2:30 p.m. MT. The winner will get the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 and on 102.3 ESPN Radio. Live stats and a live audio feed will also be available at DenverPioneers.com.
Denver has won 10 straight games, sitting at 13-2 on the season. The win streak is the Pioneers’ longest since the 2011 season in which Denver won 12 straight games before losing to eventual NCAA champion Virginia in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals.
“I’m really proud of each facet of our game,” said head coach Bill Tierney. “Our goalies both played fantastically well. Chris Hampton dominated face-offs. Our defense played well, holding them to only four goals until the fourth quarter. Our offense was clicking in the first half, but just wasn’t scoring as we usually do. This is credit to the way Rutgers was defending us.”
Junior Wesley Berg finished the day with his fifth hat trick of the season, 17th of his career, netting five goals to go along with two assists for seven points. With his seven points, Berg now has 152 career points, tied for sixth all-time with former Pioneer and current Denver Outlaw Eric Law. His 110 career goals are No. 6 all-time, three shy of associate head coach Matt Brown, who sits at No. 5.
Also scoring for the Pioneers was junior Erik Adamson, who finished with three goals and two assists for five points. Adamson tallied his eighth hat trick of the season.
Read more about Thursday’s game at DenverPioneers.com