FEATURE: Son-in-law of @DUCoachTierney brings 1st year program @CSUVikingsLax to #PeterBartonLS this weekend https://t.co/x6pfIozS4y

- Denver Mens Lacrosse (@DU_MLAX) February 25, 2017

DU freshman Ethan Walker better than billed so far https://t.co/gMTl7y6ugS via @9NEWS

-- Rod Mackey (@Rod9sports) February 25, 2017

Did East draw level with West? Did West take a 3-1 season series lead? #DU1NATION pic.twitter.com/elGeT1eIVp

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
• The Pioneers improved to 12-4 as the No. 1 team in the country (chart on page 3), scoring on seven of 10 possession in the fourth quarter to defeat [14/15] Duke last Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
• Former Pioneer assistant Dylan Sheridan will return to Peter Barton as a head coach of first-year program Cleveland State on Saturday in the second game of a four game weekend as part of the 2017 Faceoff Classic. Saturday's faceoff is set for approximately 1:30 p.m. MT, and will follow Air Force and Canisius (11 a.m.).
• Denver will continue its season-opening six game homestand on Sunday, closing out the Faceoff Classic with a match-up against Canisius. The six-game homestand matches the longest in Denver's DI history (2004).

THE TIERNEY FILE
• Head coach Bill Tierney is in his eighth season with the Pioneers, holding a 98-28 record at DU and a 370-121 career record in his 33rd season.
• Tierney became the first coach to win National Championships with two different programs in 2015, and has an NCAA-best seven men's lacrosse national titles to his name (six at Princeton).
• Coming into the 2017 season, Tierney was the 14th winningest active coach in the NCAA with a 75.3 winning percentage (min five seasons).
• Tierney entered the season fourth in active wins with 368, behind Jim Berkman (D3/489), Hank Janczyk (D3/423) and John Danowski (Duke/370) to start the season.
• Tierney became the third DI coach to record 350 wins on April 30, 2015 at Villanova, and is third in wins (370) by a Division I head coach behind Dom Starsia (375 - Brown/Virginia 1983-16) and John Danowski (372 - LIU Post/Hofstra/Duke - 1983-pres.).

DEFENDING THE LACROSSE CAPITAL OF THE WEST
• The Pioneers are 82-16 since Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium was built in 2005.
• Denver is 51-7 under head coach Bill Tierney at Peter Barton.
• DU had its 22-game home winning streak snapped on May 7, 2016 against Marquette in the BIG EAST Championship, which at the time was the longest active in the country and finished as the 10th longest home winning streak in NCAA history.
• The Pioneers have recorded 34 sellouts in the history of Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, including five in 2014 and 2015 and nine in 2016 (Rec: 3,117 on 03/28/15).
• DU has sold out its last 15 home games.
• Denver is 27-6 in sellouts at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium (not including exhibition).

TO THE POINT
• Connor Cannizzaro extended his active point streak to 43 games last time out, the third longest currently in the country.
• Cannizzaro has 185 (122G-63A) points in the stretch.
• Cannizzaro had his 39-game active goal streak snapped against Marquette in the BIG EAST Final, which at the time was the longest active in the country. The junior had 112 goals in that stretch.

RECENT NCAA TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
• Denver is one of six programs to qualify for the NCAA Tournament every year since 2010. DU won its first NCAA Championship in 2015.
• The Pioneers have reached Championship Weekend in four of the last six years.
• Including 2016, Denver is one of four teams to host a first round game in each of the last four years.

WALKER'S DEBUT
• Ethan Walker picked up five points in his NCAA debut on Feb. 11, the most by a freshman in his debut since MacAdory Lipscomb in 2000.
• Current sophomore Nate Marano matched Jamie Lincoln's 2008 debut with four goals in his collegiate debut in 2015.

DOUBLE-DIGIT GOALS
• Denver scored double-digit goals in 26-consecutive games prior to Denver's 9-8 overtime win at Notre Dame on 03/13/16. The stretch is now 36-of-39.
• The Pioneers have scored double-digit goals 102 times since the arrival of eighth-year head coach Bill Tierney.
• DU is 91-11 when scoring double-digit goals since the start of the 2010 season.
• Denver has scored double-digit goals 121 times since Matt Brown joined the staff full time in 2008. Since 2008, Denver is 106-15.

TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY
• Denver is 69-4 under head coach Bill Tierney when its defense allows fewer than 10 goals in a game, including 8-0 in 2016.
• Since defensive coordinator John Orsen's arrival ahead of the 2015 season, Denver is 22-0 when holding its opponents under 10 goals.
• The Pioneers held opponents to under 10 goals in six-straight games from March 21-April 18, 2015 for the first time since the Pioneers held opponents under 10 goals in nine-straight games from March 29-May 18, 2014.
• Denver's defense held Georgetown to four goals on April 2, 2016, its lowest goals allowed total since limiting Villanova to four on 4/3/15 (15-4).

SPREADING THE WEALTH
• Denver has had 10 different players score goals in eight of Denver's wins since the start of the 2015 season, including three-straight games from Feb. 20-28, 2016. (`16: vs. Duke, Sacred Heart, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Providence `15: Georgetown, at St. John's and at Marquette). Denver had nine different players score in its 15-6 win over Ohio St, in its 14-11 win over Marquette and in the BIG EAST Semifinals vs. Providence.
• Since offensive coordinator and current associate head coach Matt Brown was named a full time assistant in 2008, the Pioneers have had 10 or more players score goals in a game 14 times (chart to right).
• The Pioneers had five different players score at least two goals in one game in 2016 (at Georgetown), four games in 2015 (at Lehigh, at. St. John's, at Marquette and vs. Georgetown) and twice in 2014.

SUMMER INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
• Ethan Walker and Dylan Johnson both played this summer in the FIL U-19 World Lacrosse Championships.
• Johnson played in six games, tallying two assists and picking up four loose balls en route to the Gold Medal.
• Walker played in six games as well, scoring eight goals and tallying six assists for Matt Brown's offense on the silver-medal winning Canadian team.

A TEWAARATON FINALIST AND HIS APPRENTICE
• Ethan Walker and Connor Cannizzaro are the first teammates in Denver's Division I era to each record hat tricks in DU's first two games of a season.
• Cannizzaro has had hat tricks in his first two games of the year twice, also doing so in his sophomore campaign in 2015.
• Walker has netted hat tricks in each of his first two games, the first freshman to do that for Denver since Associate Head Coach Matt Brown in 2002.

X MARKS THE SPOT
• Junior FOGO Trevor Baptiste is 614-891 (.689) from the X in his career, setting the NCAA record in 2015 for faceoff wins by a freshman (310).
• Baptiste has had double-digit faceoff wins in all 37 games of his collegiate career, 15+ faceoff wins in 27 career games, including 11 times in 2016 and 20+ faceoff wins in 10 career games, including six times in 2016.
• Baptiste's 20 ground balls on April 16 vs. St. John's broke the DU single-game record and sits ninth in the NCAA record book.
• Baptiste's rookie season total of 310 faceoff wins was also the fourth-most faceoff wins in a single-season in NCAA history.
• His 163 ground balls in 2016 was good for 11th in NCAA single-season history.

DENVER'S 2017 SCHEDULE
• Nine opponents on Denver's 13-game regular season slate appeared in the USILA Preseason Poll.
• Denver's nine regular season home games is the program's most since 2010 (8-1).
• In 2017, Denver will play the reigning National Champion for the sixth time in the last eight years (3-2 |DNP in 2012 and 2016).
• The Pioneers open the season with a six-game homestand, matching the longest in Denver's DI history (2004).

BONUS LACROSSE
• Denver is 9-7 in overtime under head coach Bill Tierney, winning the last five and eight of its last nine.

MAKE IT TAKE IT
• On March 28, 2015 Denver scored 11-straight goals from the 5:34 mark of the first quarter to the 11:02 mark of the second. DU scored seven-straight goals without allowing Georgetown to have possession.
• On Feb. 14, 2015 vs. Duke, Denver scored six-straight fourth quarter goals from the 13:30 mark to the 5:36 mark (7:54).
• In that stretch, Duke had just one possession, winning its only faceoff of the quarter on a violation.

HAT TRICK TRIOS
• Denver has had three players record hat tricks in the same game nine times since the start of the 2015 season (17: Air Force; 16: at North Carolina, St. John's, vs. Providence; 15: vs. Duke, Georgetown, Providence, at Villanova, vs. Georgetown).
• The Pioneers had three players score hat tricks five times in 2014 as well.

SOCK-IT-TO-ME
• On Feb. 21, 2015 vs. Air Force, Connor Cannizzaro became the 10th player in DU history to record a sock trick, scoring six goals and tallying two assists. Cannizzaro's second career sock trick came on April 9, 2016 in Denver's 12-11 win over Villanova. Following the sock trick, Cannizzaro was named USILA and NCAA National POW.

PIONEERS FROM ALL OVER
• Denver's roster is comprised of student-athletes from 18 different states as well as two Canadian provinces.
• Denver has multiple players from 12 of the 20 locations.

FREAKY FAST
• Trevor Baptiste, Connor Cannizzaro and Ethan Walker combined for three goals in 17 seconds to end the third quarter of Denver's season opener.
• Based on fastest consecutive goals in the NCAA record book, the stretch is Denver's fastest in program history. Cannizzaro and Walker's consecutive goals tied for the third fastest in NCAA history.

INSIDE LACROSSE PRESEASON HONORS
• Denver's Connor Cannizzaro and Trevor Baptiste were named Inside Lacrosse Preseason First Team All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse in December. Defender Christian Burgdorf earned a second-team nod in the publication and sophomore Colton Jackson earned honorable mention honors.

FOURTH SEASON IN THE BIG EAST
• Denver won its third-consecutive BIG EAST regular season title in 2016, improving to 16-0 all-time in the BIG EAST regular season.
• The Pioneers had their 21-game winning streak against conference foes snapped on May 7, 2016 in the BIG EAST Final against Marquette.