STORRS, Conn.  – Julia Gilbert and Bea Behrins scored four goals apiece, and the Denver defense held the eighth-ranked offense in the country to just seven goals as the [22/RV] University of Denver women's lacrosse team completed a weekend road sweep of UConn by a score of 11-7 on Sunday afternoon at the Joseph J. Morrone Stadium at Rizza Performance Center.
 
With the win, Denver improved to 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the BIG EAST, while UConn fell to 8-4 and 4-2. Denver has a two game lead in the BIG EAST standings heading into the final two weekends of BIG EAST play.
 
Inside the Box Score:
After scoring the triple-OT winner on Friday, Behrins led the Pioneers with six points on four goals and two assists. Gilbert added five with four goals and a helper of her own. Kailey Conry was the only other multi-point getter with a goal and an assist in Denver's 11-goal afternoon.
 
Amelia Cole made six saves on the day, and Denver's defense forced the home team into 25 turnovers, causing 15 of them. Gracie DeRose led the way with a career-high six caused turnovers, tied for the seventh-highest mark in a game in Denver's Division I history. Cole had two caused turnovers of her own and Mackenzie Wallevand added a pair. Sammie Morton created a lot of extra or extended possessions for Denver with six ground balls to go with two caused turnovers.
 
First Half:
Saturday was for defensive adjustments for both teams, as a match-up that saw 13 goals in the first half on Friday turned into a seven-goal first half on Sunday.
 
DeRose led the way for Denver's defense in the first half with three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Molly Little added two ground balls and a draw control. In goal, Cole made four saves against four goals allowed in the opening 30 minutes.
 
Denver's first goal came 14:24 into the contest off the stick of Conry to tie things up at 1-1. Behrins and Gilbert assisted eachothers' first-half goals that came in a 1:19 burst to answer two straight from the Huskies and tie things at 3-3. Kyra Place got the final goal of the first half with 5:36 to go to give the Huskies a 4-3 lead at the intermission.
 
Second Half:
Denver's defense continued to stand tall in the early stages of the second half, and the offense found its footing, rattling off four straight to start the second half to put Denver in-front 7-4. Gilbert scored the second and third goals of her hat trick at 28:39 and 23:03 to give the Pioneers their first lead at 5-4. Sara Palmisano went behind the back for her first career goal off a feed from Behrins to make it 6-4 with 21:25 to go and Behrins completed the run with her 26^th of the season to push the lead to three goals at 7-4 with 16:43 left to play.
 
UConn got a goal from Sydney Watson with 13:06 to play, to break a stretch where Denver's defense held the Huskies without a goal for 22:30. The Huskies grabbed consecutive goals for just the second time in the game to cut Denver's lead to one at 7-6 with 8:04 to go.
 
The Pioneers offense regrouped and rattled off another four straight tallies in a span of 4:39 to widen the margin to five at 11-6 with 1:14 remaining on the clock. Behrins got goals three and four of the afternoon, Gilbert added her fourth and Ellie Curry completed the run with her only goal of the day.
 
Up Next: Denver will wrap-up its four-game road swing at Marquette April 16 (2 p.m. MT) and 18 (12 p.m. MT).  
 
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: For the latest University of Denver updates on the coronavirus, click here.

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