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  MLAX v Brown (10 MAY 15) - Highlights
  MLAX v Brown (10 MAY 15) - Brown Press Conference
  MLAX v Brown (10 MAY 15) - Denver Press Conference

DENVER - Senior goalkeeper Ryan LaPlante (Fort Collins, Colo.) made 16 saves, including 13 in the first half and sophomore Connor Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, N.Y.) scored five goals to lead the No. 4 seed [3/3] University of Denver men's lacrosse team to a 15-9 win over Brown in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Sunday afternoon at a sold out Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Denver advances to play Ohio State on Saturday, May 16 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The game time for next week's quarterfinal will be announced after the conclusion of the first round.

Sophomore Tyler Pace (Coquitlam, B.C.) added five points of his own on two goals and three helpers.

Freshman Trevor Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) scored seven seconds into the game to put the Pioneers up 1-0 early and kick-start Denver's 5-1 first quarter edge. Junior midfielder Colin Woolford (Norwalk, Conn.) added a goal at the 10:15 mark of the first quarter before Cannizzaro netted his first of the game with 8:47 remaining in the stanza to make it 3-0 Denver in the opening seven minutes of the match. Brown got on the board with 4:42 to play in quarter number one, as Dylan Molloy, the nation's leading scorer, tallied his 60^th marker of the campaign to cut the Pioneers' lead to 3-1.

Tewaaraton Award finalist Wesley Berg (Coquitlam, B.C.) got his first of the day and 44^th of the season off of Pace's 22^nd assist of 2015 to keep the momentum with the Pioneers and extend the lead back to three at 4-1. Cannizzaro's second of the half came with eight seconds left in the opening 15 minutes, giving Denver a 5-1 advantage heading into the first quarter break.

Pace scored Denver's fifth unassisted goal in its first six strikes with 9:29 remaining in the first half to open the scoring in the second quarter. Molloy responded quickly to the Pace tally to cut the Denver lead right back to 6-2. Sophomore Zach Miller's ( Steamburg, N.Y.) seven-yard strike off a cross-field feed from Pace made it 7-2 to take the game to the second quarter TV timeout. The Cannizzaro brothers then produced back-to-back goals within 17 seconds of each other to extend the hosts' first half lead to 9-2 with 1:52 remaining in the half. The Connor Cannizzaro goal completed the sophomore's 16th career hat trick. Sophomore defender Christian Burgdorf (Westfield, N.J.) then beat the Brown 10-man ride and scored his first career goal to cap the first half scoring at 10-2.

Brown opened the first half on a 4-0 run before Connor Cannizzaro scored a shot-clock goal with 2:47 to go in the third quarter to break the drought. Cannizzaro scored his fifth of the day before his brother Sean Cannizzaro's (Cazenovia, N.Y.) second of the afternoon put Denver back up by seven (13-6) heading into the final 15 minutes of the contest on Mother's Day Sunday.

The Pioneers added a pair of goals to their daily total in the fourth quarter while surrendering three, ultimately taking the decision by a 15-9 final. Tickets are on sale now for the 2015 NCAA Quarterfinals at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Fans can purchase tickets for the quarterfinal games at the link here.

Notes:

• Bill Tierney is now 352-118 all-time (31st season) and 80-25 at DU (sixth season).
• Denver is 8-7 in its NCAA Tournament history, and 5-3 all-time in the first round.
• Denver recorded its 23rd sellout at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium (2,451).
• Wes Berg increased his team-leading active-point streak to 35 games (entered tonight 9th in nation), while Zach Miller increased his to 34 (entered week 12th in the nation).
• Saturday marked the seventh time this season that the Pioneers have scored double-digit goals in the first half.
• Denver is now 35-9 as a top-5 team, including 5-2 as the No. 3 team.