[5/4] Denver (1-1, 0-0 BIG EAST)

Cleveland State (1-4)

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
• Ethan Walker netted his first career sock trick and Trevor Baptiste went 23-of-30 (.767) with 16 ground balls from the faceoff dot, but it wasn't enough as Denver fell to No. 1 Duke 15-12 last Friday in Durham.
• Former Denver assistant and current Cleveland State head coach Dylan Sheridan will bring his Vikings to the Mile High City for the second time in as many seasons this weekend as the Pioneers take on Cleveland State at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium Sunday at 11 a.m. MT. The game will be the regular season home opener for the 2018 Pioneers.
• Following this weekend's game at Peter Barton, the Pioneers will hit the road for three straight games, beginning with a two-game set in the Carolinas as Denver battles Furman on March 3 (10 a.m. MT) before heading to North Carolina on March 5 (2 p.m. MT). Following the trip to North Carolina, the Pioneers will have a quick turnaround before taking on western rivals Notre Dame on March 10 at 12:30 p.m. MT on ESPNU.

THE TIERNEY FILE
• Head coach Bill Tierney is in his ninth season with the Pioneers, holding a 110-33 record at DU and a 382-126 career record in his 34th 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).
• Tierney is also the first coach to win 100 of his first 140 games in charge at two different programs.
• Tierney became the third DI coach to record 350 wins in 2015 at Villanova, and is second in wins (382 - RIT/Princeton/Denver 1982-pres.) by a Division I head coach, behind John Danowski (386 - LIU Post/Hofstra/Duke - 1983-pres.).

X MARKS THE SPOT
• Faceoff man Trevor Baptiste is 911-1295 (.703) from the X in his career, setting Denver's school record for career faceoff wins on April 1, 2017 vs. Georgetown, and is third in NCAA history in that category (fourth in ground balls as well).
• Baptiste has had double-digit faceoff wins in 53-of-54 games (2018 opener at Air Force) of his collegiate career, 15+ wins in 38 career games, including 12 times in 2017 and 20+ wins in 17 career games, including in seven of Denver's last 12.
• Baptiste's 20 ground balls on April 16, 2016 vs. St. John's broke the DU single-game record and sits ninth in the NCAA record book.
• Baptiste was named a 2017 Tewaaraton Award Finalist in 2017, the third finalist in three years for the Pioneers (Wes Berg - 2015, Connor Cannizzaro - 2016). The Denver senior was also the first faceoff specialist to be named a finalist in the award's history.

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 48-of-55.
• The Pioneers have scored double-digit goals 115 times since the arrival of eighth-year head coach Bill Tierney.
• DU is 103-12 when scoring double-digit goals since the start of the 2010 season.
• Denver has scored double-digit goals 134 times since Matt Brown joined the staff full time in 2008. Since 2008, Denver is 118-16.

TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY
• Denver is 75-5 under head coach Bill Tierney when its defense allows fewer than 10 goals in a game, including a loss in the 2017 National Semifinals.
• The loss when allowing nine goals to Maryland in the National Semis was Denver's first since the arrival of defensive coordinator John Orsen. Denver is now 28-1 when holding its opponents under 10 goals under Orsen.
• 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 kept its first shutout since 1971 vs. Commerce City Lacrosse Club on Feb. 26, 2017 vs. Canisius.
• DU turned in the second-best defensive output under Tierney (both last season) on April 22, 2017, holding [20/20] Providence to two scores.
• Denver's four goals allowed against Notre Dame in the 2017 NCAA Quarters was the best defensive performance by Denver in its NCAA Tournament history.

RECENT NCAA TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
• Denver is one of six programs to qualify for the NCAA Tournament every year since 2010 (Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Notre Dame, Syracuse). DU won its first NCAA Championship in 2015.
• The Pioneers have reached Championship Weekend in five of the last seven years.
• Denver is one of four teams (Syracuse, Maryland, Notre Dame) to host a first round game in each of the last five years.

DENVER ATHLETICS SUCCESS
• Denver Athletics has claimed the I-AAA Directors' Cup in nine of the last 10 seasons, for the top finish in the Directors' Cup standings amongst schools without football.
• The Pioneers have claimed 32 National Championships in their history (Skiing 23, Hockey 8, Men's Lacrosse 1).
• Men's lacrosse's Championship Weekend berth in 2017 is one of the athletic department's 21 DI National Semifinal appearances, including eight since 2011.
• Denver's 35th place overall Directors' Cup finish in 2016-17 is the department's best in its history. DU's men's programs finished fifth in the Capital One Cup for the second time in three years.
• Entering 2017-18, the Pioneers are one of eight athletic departments in the country to take home an NCAA title in each of the last four years.

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

HAT TRICK TRIOS
• Denver has had three players record hat tricks in the same game 18 times since the start of the 2014 season (17: vs. Notre Dame, Air Force, Georgetown, at Marquette, Air Force); 16: at North Carolina, St. John's, vs. Providence; 15: vs. Duke, Georgetown, Providence, at Villanova, vs. Georgetown).

DENVER'S 2018 SCHEDULE
• Seven of the 13 teams on Denver's 2018 schedule were ranked in the top-25 in the USILA Preseason Poll released in January.

FIFTH SEASON IN THE BIG EAST
• Denver wrapped-up its fourth-consecutive BIG EAST regular season title with a 12-2 win over [20/20] Providence on April 22, 2017. The Crimson and Gold are now 21-0 all-time in BIG EAST regular season play.
• The Pioneers had their 21-game winning streak against conference foes snapped on May 7, 2016 in the BIG EAST Final against Marquette.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
• Denver has had 10 different players score goals in 10 of Denver's wins since the start of the 2015 season, including three-straight games from Feb. 20-28, 2016. (chart to left). Denver had nine different players score in its 15-6 win over Ohio St and in its 14-11 win over Marquette in 2016, in the 2016 BIG EAST Semifinals vs. Providence, in its win over Villanova on April 9, 2017 and at St. John's on April 15, 2017.
• Since OC and 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 16 times.
• The Pioneers had five different players score at least two goals 12 times since the start of the 2014 season, including in Denver's 11-10 2017 win over [1/1] Notre Dame, in Denver's 2017 BIG EAST opener against Georgetown, in its 16-11 win over Villanova and in its win at St. John's. (2017: 5 | 2016: 1 | 2015: 4 | 2014: 2).

DEFENDING THE LACROSSE CAPITAL OF THE WEST
• The Pioneers are 89-17 since Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium was built in 2005.
• Denver is 58-8 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 42 sellouts in the history of Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, including five in 2014 and 2015, nine in 2016 and 10 in 2017.
• DU has sold out its last 22 home games.
• Denver is 32-6 under Tierney in sellouts at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

A GAME OF RUNS
• Denver has had 14 10-1 runs or better in games under head coach Bill Tierney, including in Denver's 2017 NCAA Quarterfinal win over Notre Dame.

SUMMER BOX LACROSSE EXPERIENCE
• Denver had 12 players play in the Inaugural season of the Colorado Collegiate Box Lacrosse League last summer in Denver, Colo.
• The CCBLL is now one of four leagues that is a part of the newly founded National Collegiate Box Series, with expansion leagues set to take off this summer in Ohio (Columbus/Cleveland).
• Colton McCaffrey and Thomas Tenney lifted the Morrow Cup as the Pioneers' two members of the 2017 Champion Big Horns. The DU duo combined for 46 goals in the league last summer.
• Michael Cox, Alex Barnes, Zach Runberg and Mikey Pryor played for the Stoneflies, Connor Donahue, Trevor Baptiste, Nate Marano and Dylan Johnson played for the Fighting Bison and Nick Phillips and Colton Jackson played for the Gold Miners.