May 2, 2001
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DENVER -- Senior Mike Law (Englewood, Colo.) scored four goals and added an assist and sophomore Mike Kenlay (Wilmette, Ill.) and freshman Ryan Marshall (Toronto, Ontario) each tallied two goals as the University of Denver men's lacrosse team captured its third consecutive win with an 11-6 victory over in-state rival Air Force on Wednesday night (May 2) at Pioneer Field. With the win, Denver improves to 6-5 overall on the season and clinches sole possession of second-place in the Great Western Lacrosse League with a 3-1 mark. Air Force falls to 3-12 overall, 0-5 in league play.
The Pioneers opened the scoring midway through the first quarter and held a 4-1 lead at the first intermission behind two markers by Law and a man-down goal by senior Travis Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.). The Falcons responded in the second frame when Nate Koss scored his second goal of the night to cut Denver's lead in half, 4-2 at 3:37. Air Force continued to pressure the Pioneers and celebrated its third goal of the night less than a minute later to pull to within one goal, but Denver's Law could not be stopped in the final minutes of the half and struck again to complete the hat trick and give the Pioneers a 5-3 lead going into the locker room.
Both squads tightened up defense in the third quarter and allowed only one goal apiece, however, the Pioneers managed to solve the Falcon's defensive puzzle and rattled off five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to pull away. Law started the scurry with his fourth goal of the contest, 28th of the year, with a rocket from 10 yards out after spinning through two Falcon defenders. Kenlay supplemented Law's efforts with two goals of his own late in the quarter as the Pioneers took an 11-4 lead with just under three minutes to play. The Falcons retaliated with two goals in the final minute and a half, which furnished the final score of 11-6.
"I am really proud of the team tonight," said Denver head coach Jamie Munro. "I am very excited to see our efforts finally paying off. Hopefully we can carry the momentum on the road with us and get a couple of wins this weekend."
For the game, Denver out-shot Air Force 37-32, but was defeated in the face-off circle 12-9 and out-hustled for ground balls 35-29. Denver senior goalkeeper Brian Berger (Phoenix, Md.) made 12 saves in the game and has moved into fourth-place on Denver's All-time goalie list with 398 career saves.
Denver will return to action this weekend when they travel east to play a make-up game against Villanova on Friday (May 4) at 5:30 pm and will conclude the 2001 season on Saturday (May 5) when they battle GWLL opponent Fairfield at 11 a.m. All times are MST.
