Box Score BALTIMORE, Md. - The University of Denver's best season in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse came to an end with a 14-8 loss to Virginia this afternoon at the 2011 NCAA Final Four semifinals at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium.
"We got beat by the better team today," DU head coach Bill Tierney said. "These are special men. They had a season that no one could have believed even when we got here. The doubters were out there and unfortunately, with the way we played, there will still be some out there tomorrow. As I just told the players, we can't take just one game. We have to congratulate the University of Virginia and the way they played today. They were fantastic and you have to give credit to the players for that."
Steele Stanwick, Chris Bocklet and Mark Cockerton all had hat tricks for Virginia (12-5), while Stanwick added a pair of assists in the win.
Denver (15-3) was led by Jeremy Noble (Orangeville, Ontario), who had three goals and an assist, while Eric Law (Centennial, Colo.) added two goals and three assists.
Virginia jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals from Stanwick and Bocklet before Lay scored off an assist from Law at 5:50 of the opening period. Nick O'Reilly and Stanwick gave the Cavs a 4-1 lead before Noble scored at 9:35 from Law. Rob Emery made the score 5-2 with an extra-man goal at 10:48.
The Cavaliers scored four times in the second, while holding the Pioneers scoreless, to lead 9-2 at the half.
DU's second team All-American Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario) opened up the second half with a goal just 33 seconds in. However, the Cavaliers rattled off four-straight goals to take a 10-goal lead with 8:45 remaining in the third. Law scored off an assist from Noble at the 13:11 mark.
The Pioneers mounted a comeback in the fourth, as Noble scored twice and Law scored once in a 37 second span to cut the deficit to 13-7 with 13:10 to play. Virginia regrouped after a timeout with Cockerton giving the Cavaliers another goal, and UVA successfully worked the clock and clamped down on defense until Alex Demopoulos (Canton, Conn.) scored the game's final goal with 1:26 left in the game.
"We can't pinpoint exactly what the difference was today," DU senior captain Andrew Lay (Denver) said. "We played very well against Hopkins last week and everything was going our way. Today, we faced a Virginia team that is unbelievable and you can't slip up against a team like them."
Virginia held a 13-11 advantage on face-offs, 32-26 in shots and 27-19 in groundballs.
Notes: The Pioneers ended their historic season at 15-3, the most wins in team history, as well as a perfect 6-0 mark in the ECAC and conference tournament crown. DU's trip to the Final Four was the team's first ever, as Denver had never won an NCAA Tournament game prior to this season. The Pioneers trailed at the half in all three losses this season. The Pioneers outscored their opponents 10-3 in the fourth quarter.
