VILLANOVA, Pa. – Sophomore goaltender Jack Thompson turned in Denver's first 20-save performance since 2003, and Ethan Walker scored a game-high five goals, including the overtime winner, to send the [10/10] University of Denver men's lacrosse team past [16/16] Villanova 11-10 on Wednesday afternoon at Villanova Stadium.
 
With the victory, the Pioneers clinched their 14^th Division I regular-season title and their seventh-straight BIG EAST regular season crown. Denver shares the regular season title with Georgetown, but the Pioneers own the head-to-head goal differential, and will be the No. 1 seed in next week's BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Championship, presented by JEEP. The Pios will play hosts Providence in the semifinal round on Thursday, May 6, at a time TBD.
 
Inside the Box Score:
Thompson stopped 20 shots to 10 goals allowed for a 66.7% save percentage on the afternoon, topping his previous career-high by five saves.
 
Walker finished with a game-high six points on five goals and an assist, good for the 32^nd hat trick of his career. Jack Hannah netted his seventh hat trick of the season and the 11^th of his time with the Crimson and Gold. Alex Simmons had a goal and three helpers and Lucas Cotler finished with a goal and an assist to round out Denver's multi-point getters.
 
TD Ierlan led Denver's faceoff duo with an 8-for-12 afternoon, picking up eight grounders.
 
First Quarter:
Similar to the first meeting at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, the first half was very back and forth. Hannah got Denver on the board 37 seconds in with his 30^th of the campaign. Villanova responded with a pair of tallies to make it 2-1 Wildcats with 10:54 to play in the opening quarter. Walker netted his 27^th of the season to make it 2-2 and Sam Dwinell scored for the second-game in a row to put the Pioneers back in-front at 3-2 with 8:15 to go.
 
Villanova got a pair of consecutive goals once again to make it 4-3 Wildcats with 5:29 to go in the first. Lucas Cotler had a nice dodge down the left to make it 4-4 heading into the second quarter.
 
Second Quarter:
The second quarter saw a goal apiece. Hannah opened the second with his 31^st, and Matt Campbell got a goal on the other side to tie things up at 5-5 with 9:36 to go, the score the two teams would eventually go to the intermission at.  
 
Third Quarter:
Keegan Khan's 20^th of the season put the Wildcats back in front to start the third quarter. Villanova took the first two-goal lead for either team to make it 7-5 with 5:03 to play off the stick of Matt Campbell. Walker's second of the day and first of a four-goal second half rounded out a quiet third quarter for both offenses to pull Denver to within one with 3:28 to go in the period.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Denver got the first two goals of the fourth quarter with Simmons' 28^th of the season tying things up with 12:42 to go and Walker's 29^th of the campaign giving the Pioneers their first lead since 5-4 with 10:55 to go in the second quarter. Khan tied things back up at 8-8 with 5:46 remaining before Denver took its first two-goal lead of the afternoon with back-to-back tallies 2:10 apart from Walker and Hannah. Villanova wasn't done yet, scoring twice in the final 1:05 to send the top-16 match-up to overtime.
 
Overtime:
Danny Logan picked up the ground ball on the all-important overtime faceoff, giving Denver the only possession of the extra session. A little more than a minute into the overtime, Cotler's pass short-hopped a curling Walker, who controlled it nicely, spun around the top of the crease, dove and scored to win the game and clinch the BIG EAST regular season title.
 
What's Next
The University of Denver men's lacrosse program, presented by Your Front Range Toyota Stores will play in the 2021 BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Championship, presented by Jeep, with the semifinals taking place on Thursday, May 6, in Providence, R.I.  

Significant Stats:

• Denver's Jack Thompson made 20 saves in the win, the first time a Pioneer goaltender has stopped 20 shots since Jeff Nunziato stopped 21 against No. 2 Virginia on April 28, 2003.
  • The performance is Denver's most saves by a goaltender in a win.
• Walker's OT winner was the first Denver overtime winner since Colin Rutan's against Towson on March 24, 2018
• Denver is 11-7 in overtime under head coach Bill Tierney, winning seven of the last eight and 10 of the last 12.

 
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