April 30, 2005

Box Score

DENVER - The Pioneers are champions again! Freshman Brett Koll (Fort Collins, Colo.) scored the game-winning overtime goal to give the No. 15 University of Denver men's lacrosse team a 10-9 Great Western Lacrosse League victory over Air Force on Saturday, April 30 in front of 1,210 fans in a driving spring snow storm at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. The Pioneers improved to 9-4 overall and a perfect 4-0 in GWLL play. The win ensures Denver a share of the GWLL regular-season title.

"What a thrilling way to end our home schedule," said head coach Jamie Munro. "The day began with dedicating the stadium and ended with us ensuring a piece of the regular-season championship. I hope the momentum we have created by winning three consecutive games will carryover to next week at Fairfield."

Koll scored his first of two goals at the 12:21 mark of the first quarter to give the Pioneers an early 1-0 lead. Denver was up 3-1 after goals from seniors Scott Davidson (Guilford, Conn.) and Matt Brown (Burnaby, B.C.) before Air Force ran off four unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead at the 11:51 mark of the second quarter. Freshman Michael Goltra (Washington, N.C.) tallied a man-up goal to close the margin to one (5-4) at halftime.

The two squads went back-and-fourth in the second half with Brown's goal just 44 seconds into the third quarter tying the score at 5-5.The Falcons would regain the lead just two minutes later when Conrad Lochocki beat Pioneer goalie Jeb Hollingsworth (Darien, Conn.). It would be Air Force's final lead.

Brown's third and Adam Swain's (West Simsbury, Conn.) first goal gave Denver a 7-6 lead at the 6:27 mark of the third quarter. The Falcons' Justin Kuchta tied the scored, but senior Scott Davidson (Guilford, Conn.) scored his second goal of the day put the Pioneers up, 8-7 going into the fourth quarter.

The fourth frame was a stalemate until sophomore Ryan Zordani (Littleton, Colo.) scored at the 3:24 mark. Air Force rallied to score two late goals, the last coming with six seconds showing on the clock, to send the game into overtime deadlocked at 9-9.

A costly Falcon penalty early into overtime was all the opportunity Denver needed. Koll's second goal of the afternoon just 36 seconds into extra time sent the Pioneers' faithful home happy.

Brown led all Denver scorers with three goals, while Davidson and Koll each scored two goals to lead Denver. Hollingsworth made seven saves while improving to 3-1 on the year. The Pioneers outshot Air Force, 36-25 and finished the game with a 50-31 groundballs advantage. Denver was 2-of-3 on extra-man opportunities. The Falcons were 0-of-5.

Denver is back in action for its final regular-season game of the season when it travels to Connecticut to face-off against GWLL foe Fairfield on Saturday, May 7 at 5 p.m. MT.

The University of Denver formally dedicated the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in a ceremony before the game.

Construction of the $5.9 million facility, the only college stadium in the United States built solely for lacrosse, began last summer. The turf will cost another $1 million and will be complete this summer. The stadium, built of structural brick and load-bearing masonry, with limestone accents and copper roof and finial, provides 12 tiers of seating for approximately 2,000 spectators and 28 spaces for wheelchairs. The structure houses men's and women's locker rooms, public restrooms, concession areas, office and changing area for coaches, a half-time room for the visiting team, viewing pavilion/conference room and a two-direction press box that also serves the soccer field to the south. The stadium also provides a home for the Colorado Lacrosse Foundation, the Colorado chapter of US Lacrosse and the Colorado Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

University Architect Mark Rodgers, AIA, was the project architect; Keith Conner, AIA, of David Owen Tryba Architects was the facility designer under Rodgers; TSP Inc. was the architect of record and Pinkard Construction Co. was the general contractor.

The stadium is named for the late Peter Barton. A prominent Denver entrepreneur, Barton was the former president and chief executive of the cable television company Liberty Media Corp. Barton had several ties to the University of Denver, where he was an adjunct faculty member in the Daniels College of Business and a contributor to the establishment of the DU-based Privacy Foundation, along with First Data Corp. and the Denver Foundation. Barton retired in 1997 and devoted himself to a life of philanthropy and education until his death in September 2002.