SAN DIEGO – The No. 9 University of Denver women's lacrosse team entered the weekend with the top goals against average in the country, but it was a well-rounded offensive effort that carried the day on Sunday, guiding the Pioneers to a 19-11 win over San Diego State at Aztec Lacrosse Field.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
Bea Behrins netted her 31^st career hat trick on five goals and a helper to lead the Pioneers offensive attack. Lauren Black and Julia Gilbert chipped in four goals apiece and Gilbert added a helper for her five-point afternoon. Kayla DeRose also had a hat trick with three and an assist on Sunday. Charlotte Boote rounded out the multi-goal scorers with a pair of tallies in the second half.
 
Denver dominated the draws again on Sunday, pulling in 21, while losing only 11. Abby Jenkins paced the Pios with eight, while Sam Thacker added seven draws to a day that also included two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Kailee Lammers picked up five ground balls in a Denver defensive effort that saw the Pioneers come up with 11 caused turnovers.
 
The Pioneers outshot San Diego State 44-20, including 31-12 on goal.  
 
FIRST QUARTER:
Black and DeRose got Denver on the board with the first two goals of the day inside the first four minutes of the contest.
 
San Diego State got back-to-back tallies of their own to level things back up at 2-2 with 8:36 to play in the opening frame.
 
Denver then went on a 4-0 run, including the final two goals of the first quarter. Gilbert got on the board with her 18^th of the season to put Denver back in-front and then Black netted her second of the opening quarter with 60 seconds to play to give the Pioneers a two-goal lead through 15 minutes.
 
SECOND QUARTER:
Denver outshot SDSU 12-5 in the second quarter, a 4-3 period for the Pioneers to extend their lead to three at the intermission.
 
Behrins' 31^st of the campaign made it 5-2 Pioneers and then DeRose's second capped the 4-0 run to extend the Pioneers advantage to 6-2 with 11:29 to go in the first half.
 
SDSU stopped the run to pull back to within three, but two more from the Pios, Ellie Curry's 10^th of the season and DeRose's hat trick tally gave Denver its biggest margin of five at 8-3 with 8:29 to play.
 
The Aztecs got the final two goals of the half to send the Pioneers into the locker room with an 8-5 lead.
 
THIRD QUARTER:
Behrins fired her second of the day from her left hip to get Denver's lead back to four in the early stages of the third quarter, but a San Diego State response made it 9-6 with 11:38 to play in the frame.
 
Black capped her fourth hat trick of the season and Behrins rounded out her sixth hatty of the campaign to give the Pioneers an 11-6 advantage in the middle stages of the third.
 
Gilbert had a pair of goals around a Deanna Balsama tally to push Denver's lead to 13-7 with 4:15 to go, becoming the fourth Pioneer to earn a hat trick on the day with the ninth hatty of her career.
 
Boote ended the third quarter scoring with her 13^th of the season to cap a six-goal quarter and make it 14-7 heading into the final 15 minutes.
 
FOURTH QUARTER:
The scoring stayed busy in the fourth quarter with the two teams combining for nine goals in the frame. San Diego State got the first two and four of the first five in the period to cut Denver's lead to 15-11 with 8:02 to go.
 
The Pioneers got the final four goals to make it a 19-11 ballgame. Goals from Black, Gilbert and Behrins kickstarted a run that was capped off by a Boote finish off a feed from Curry with 51 seconds to play.
 
UP NEXT: Denver will open BIG EAST play next Saturday when the Pioneers head to Indianapolis to take on Butler. Opening draw is set for 12 p.m. ET/10 a.m. MT.  

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