INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 9 Denver Pioneers women's lacrosse team began Big East Conference play on Saturday with a 17-8 victory at Butler University.
 
Denver stretched its winning streak to five in a row and improved to 11-1 on the 2022 campaign. Saturday's win marked the 10th time this season that the Pioneers have held an opponent to 10 or fewer goals against.
 
Graduate student Bea Behrins tied a career high with seven goals and also added an assist for DU. She also had seven markers on March 15 versus Fairfield and now has 20 tallies in the last four games. Behrins leads the team with 42 goals on the season and has scored 170 times in her career, moving past Kara Secora (166, 2009-2013) and into fourth-place all-time in program history.
 
Freshman attacker Lauren Black produced her second-straight four-goal outing and her fifth hat trick of the season. Fellow frosh Mollie Estepp had her first career three-goal game, and senior attacker Kayla DeRose contributed five assists to set a new personal best.
 
Raegan Wilson also recorded her first two goals of her career and Caroline Colimore also found the back of the net.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Emelia Bohi started and made seven saves on 14 shots. Victoria Macres played the final 10:14 in net and made 2-of-3 saves.
 
The teams traded goals in the first 2:28 of contest, but after that it was all Pioneers. Black scored her second of the opening quarter at 11:49 to begin a 10-goal run for Denver that went on for 22:20. During that run, Black and Behrins both completed hat tricks while five different players scored.
 
Campbell Connors ended the Pios' run with Butler's second free-position tally of the game at 4:29 of the second quarter, and the Bulldogs added another before halftime to cut DU's lead to 11-3.
 
Denver added three more tallies in the third frame as Behrins tallied twice and Estepp recorded her second of the game, giving DU a 14-5 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes.
 
Both squads added three more goals in the fourth quarter, with Behrins completing the sock trick on a free-position attempt at 8:46 before adding her seventh tally of the game with 1:33 remaining.
 
Butler was led offensively by Gabryelle Bodine, who had three goals in the game. Greer Bireley also had three points (two goals, one assist) for the Bulldogs, and Connors tallied twice.
 
Denver outshot Butler 30-27 and connected on five of its nine free-position attempts. The Bulldogs went 3-for-6 on free shots.
 
UP NEXT: The No. 9 Pioneers now return home from their three-game road swing as they host No. 21 Connecticut next Saturday at 12 p.m. MT at Peter Barton Stadium.
 
SCORING
1st Quarter
13:55 DU (1-0) – Lauren Black (1)
12:32 BU (1-1) – Greer Bireley (1), free position shot
11:49 DU (2-1) – Lauren Black (2)
11:06 DU (3-1) – Mollie Estepp (1), assist by Carolina Colimore
7:09 DU (4-1) – Lauren Black (3), assist by Bea Behrins (UP)
0:53 DU (5-1) – Raegan Wilson (1), free position shot
 
2nd Quarter
13:30 DU (6-1) – Bea Behrins (1), assist by Kayla DeRose
12:06 DU (7-1) – Caroline Colimore (1), free position shot
11:07 DU (8-1) – Lauren Black (4), assist by Ellie Curry
9:15 DU (9-1) – Bea Behrins (2), assist by Kayla DeRose
8:11 DU (10-1) – Bea Behrins (3), assist by Kayla DeRose
6:07 DU (11-1) – Reagan Wilson (2), assist by Kayla DeRose
4:29 BU (11-2) – ­ Campbell Connors (1), free position shot
3:03 BU (11-3) – Gabryelle Bodine (1)
 
3rd Quarter
12:04 DU (12-3) – Bea Behrins (4), assist by Caroline Colimore
7:15 BU (12-4) – Gabryelle Bodine (2), assist by Ellie Eisenklam
5:09 DU (13-4) – Bea Behrins (5), free position shot
1:49 DU (14-4) – Mollie Estepp (2), assist by Sloane Kipp
0:33 BU (14-5) – Campbell Connors (2), assist by Greer Bireley
 
4th Quarter
14:16 BU (14-6) – Greer Bireley (2)
10:14 BU (14-7) – Gabryelle Bodine (3), free position shot
8:46 DU (15-7) – Bea Behrins (6), free position shot
3:28 BU (15-8) – Lindsey Schreiber (1), assist by Kaley Attaway
2:34 DU (16-8) – Mollie Estepp (3), free position shot
1:33 DU (17-8) – Bea Behrins (7), assist by Kayla DeRose
 

DONATE: Fans interested in making a donation to the Pioneers Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will transform the lives of our student-athletes by giving them the first-class resources needed to excel in the classroom and beyond. Thank you for Building Pioneers for Life!
 
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Women's Lacrosse on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_WLAX on Twitter
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_WLAX on Instagram