DENVER - Senior Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario) led the No. 11/12 University of Denver men's lacrosse team with three goals and two assists to become DU's all-time Division I goal-scorer and junior Eric Law (Centennial, Colo.) added five goals as the Pioneers (2-1) claimed a 21-8 victory over Robert Morris (3-1) in the final game of the 12th Annual DU Face-Off Classic at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

"We came out with a lot of energy this weekend in these two games. I think yesterday we had a lot of defense energy and today we had a lot of offensive energy," said head coach Bill Tierney. "We are always looking for perfection and I think the guys responded today. We were very unselfish offensively and a lot of credit needs to go to Robert Morris because they are a tough team to defend against."

Junior Cameron Flint (Georgetown, Ontario) had two goals and two assists and sophomore Harrison Archer (Washington, D.C.) added one goal and three assists for DU. Junior Chase Carraro (Louisville, Ky.) scored three goals and was 16-of-21 on his face-off opportunities and senior Alex Demopoulos (Canton, Conn.) had a goal and two assists in the win.

Sophomore Jeremy Noble (Orangeville, Ontario) and freshman Wes Berg (New Westmingster, B.C.) had two points apiece and junior Chace Calkin (Englewood, Colo.) was 6-of-12 on face-offs.

Freshman Carson Cannon (Stillwater, Minn.) caused two turnovers for Denver and sophomore Jamie Faus (Lakeville, Conn.) earned the win in goal with six saves.

The Pioneers had a 48-39 shot advantage and a 36-21 upper hand in ground balls. Denver won 22-of-33 face-offs and was successful on 12-of-15 clear opportunities compared to Robert Morris, which was 10-of-16. DU and RMU were both successful on 1-of-4 extra-man chances. The Pioneers limited their turnovers to 16 while the Colonials had 17.

Kiel Matisz led Robert Morris with three goals and three assists. Matt Bukovac and Dillon Pope combined for 14 saves for the Colonials in the loss.

The Pioneers came out blazing, scoring the game's first five goals with Flint, Berg, Matthews, Archer and Law getting in on the action, while DU's defense held the Colonials scoreless.

The Colonials started second-quarter scoring with a goal from Teddy Finnegan, but Law provided a Pioneer rebuttal, followed by scores from Carraro and Demopoulos to give Denver an 8-1 lead. Robert Morris's Dave Morton and Jake Hayes scored to make it 8-3, but Law tallied his third goal of the half and Carraro netted his second in response. Hayes and Kiel Matisz answered for RMU before Law tacked on another one as Denver led 11-5 at halftime. 

Matthews scored in the second half to sparked the Pioneers as Berg, Flint, Noble and Carraro added quick goals soon after to give Denver a 16-5 lead with 10:49 to play in the third quarter. Senior Henry Miketa (Fort Collins, Colo.) ended a seven-minute goalless stretch and Matthews buried another goal to give Denver an 18-5 lead before Matisz scored for Robert Morris. Law scored in response and the Pioneers led 19-6 after three quarters.

Freshman Tyler Ekeroth (San Diego, Calif.) scored for Denver to being the final quarter. RMU's Matisz answered with his third goal of the game followed by a Denver goal from sophomore Bailey Dodds (Eden Prairie, Minn.) to give the Pioneers the 21-7 lead. Tyler Digby's goal for RMU marked the final score of the game.

Air Force defeated Michigan 15-6 in the first game of the day.

Denver hosts Hartford at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium next Saturday, March 3 at 1 p.m. MT. Fans can follow the action live via Pioneer Vision and CoverItLive available at DenverPioneers.com. The Pioneers can also be followed on Twitter via DU_MLAX. Live Stats will also be available at DenverPioneers.com.

NOTES

With his first quarter goal, Matthews surpassed DU associate head coach Matt Brown's 113 goals for most Division I scores by a Pioneer... Matthews now has 116 for his career... There were 1,206 in attendance for the Denver win.

DU FACE-OFF CLASSIC TEAM

Eric Law - Denver

Chase Carraro - Denver

Drew Babb - Denver

Jeremy Noble - Denver

Erik Smith - Air Force

Keith Dreyer - Air Force

Dayton Gilbreath - Air Force

Klye Matisz - Robert Morris

Jack Hayes - Robert Morris

Alex Vasileff - Michigan

DU won the Face-Off Classic with a 2-0 record. Air Force was second with a 1-1 record, holding the tie-breaker with 29 goals scored. Robert Morris was third with a 1-1 record and Michigan was fourth with an 0-2 record.

TICKETS

Single-game tickets are available for $9. Children, ages two and under, are free and can only sit on a lap. DU students can enter for free with valid Pioneer Card. For groups of 20 or more, tickets are available for a discounted price. Interested parties should contact Group Sales Manager Adam Sizemore at 303-871-2389 or via email at adam.sizemore@du.edu. If you're a DU Faculty and Staff member, or a retiree, you can purchase the DU VIP card for only $99. The DU VIP card gets you and up to three guests, access to all Pioneers' home ticketed events (excluding hockey). To find out more information, contact the DU Box Office.

 

- www.DenverPioneers.com -