April 19, 2002

Ohio State Game Summary
Download Free Acrobat Reader

COLUMBUS, OHIO - The University of Denver men's lacrosse team came up short in its upset attempt against No. 16 Ohio State, 8-4 on Friday night (Apt. 19) at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The loss, Denver's third straight against Great Western Lacrosse League opponents, drops the Pioneers to 5-6 overall, 0-3 in league play. Ohio State improves to 7-4, 1-1 in the GWLL.

Ohio State struck first in the opening quarter, but was unable to hold onto the lead for long as the Pioneers knotted the score, 1-1, minutes later on a goal by freshman Darren Sasaki-Scanlon (Norwalk, Conn.), his third tally of the season. Both teams increased the pressure and failed to yield scoring chances on the defensive end, but a turnover at midfield in the waning minutes of the period cost the Pioneers a critical possession, which allowed the Buckeyes an attack chance that was converted with two seconds remaining to give OSU a 2-1 lead at the first break.

Ohio State added two more tallies in the second quarter and held Denver's potent attack scoreless to take a 4-1 lead into the halftime recess. Denver stormed out of the locker room in the second half but costly penalties forced the Pioneers to play a man short. OSU capitalized with the extra-man and took a 5-1 lead in the first minute of the third quarter and took the wind out of Denver's sail. The Buckeyes scored once more to take a five goal lead late in the frame, but the Pioneers responded with three unanswered goals over the next quarter and a half to pull within two goals, 6-4 with just over 11 minutes remaining.

The Pioneers, attempted to take advantage of the momentum swing, but Ohio State dominated the ground ball war down the stretch and scored two goals late in the contest to pull away for the 8-4 win. Ohio State successfully shut down Denver's potent offensive attack, which has averaged more than 12 goals a game, and held them to the lowest output of the season. Freshman sniper Matt Brown (Burnaby, B.C.), the nation's eighth-leading scorer, was held scoreless for the first time this season and ended a team-high ten-game scoring streak.

The Buckeyes out-shot Denver 40-24, out-hustled fore groundballs 33-28 and controlled the face-off circle 9-6. Junior netminder Jeff Nunziato (Latham, N.Y.) kept the Pioneers in the game with a career-high 16 saves in the game and sophomore Jeff Biggs (St. Louis, Mo.) extended his scoring streak to five games with his tally in the fourth quarter.

The Pioneers return to action on Sunday (Apr. 21) when they travel to Butler for a Great Western Lacrosse League game at 11 a.m. mountain time.

Goals: DENVER - Darren Sasaki-Scanlon, Andrew Huelskoetter, Jeff Biggs, Adam Stifel, OHIO STATE - Curtis Smith (3), Ryan Laffey, Pat Donohue, , Ryan Mulford, Anthony Gilardi, Tom Randisi.

Assists: DENVER - None, OHIO STATE - Mike Norton (3), Pat Donohue, Pat Myers.