VILLANOVA – The No. 19 University of Denver women's lacrosse team responded after trailing by multiple two-goal deficits in the first half by ending the game on a 12-1 run to pull away from [RV] Villanova 14-5 on Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Caroline Keil had four goals on 4-of-6 shooting, while Eva Thomsen-Marr had a hat trick of her own to lead the Denver offense. Karleigh Mutch and Kendra Harris also had multi-goal efforts for the visiting Pioneers.
 
Lexi Gwaku finished over 50% again in goal, making seven stops on 12 Wildcat shots on goal.
 
Denver's defense had 13 caused turnovers, led by three Carly Frohnapfel and a pair from Landry Grover and Megan Klingenberg. The Pioneers struggled in the draw circle early, but flipped the script in the second half. Frohnapfel had four around the circle and Grover had two more.
 
First Quarter:
Villanova got the first two goals of the afternoon on two of its first four possessions. Denver had two long offensive possessions, earning a number of rests in the opening quarter, but couldn't beat goalkeeper Allie Bell. Bell had four stops to shut out the Pioneers in the opening quarter and allow the Wildcats to carry a two-goal lead into the first break.
 
Second Quarter:
Caroline Keil got Denver on the board to start the second quarter, cutting the Pioneers deficit in half with her 38^th goal of the campaign.
 
Denver's defense then had to kill off the first yellow card of the game, but on its next possession after a Pioneers shot clock violation, Villanova restored its two-goal advantage off the stick of Christie Rose to send the game into the second media timeout at 3-1 with 7:27 to play before halftime.
 
Keil ripped home her second of the afternoon, this time from the arc to cut the deficit in half once more, but Belle Piselli provided the answer with a woman-down goal for Villanova to make it 4-2 with 3:52 to go.
 
Eva Thomsen-Marr improved to 8-of-11 from the arc this season to stretch her goal streak to 31-straight games and make it a 4-3 game with under three minutes to go in the half. A fourth save of the half by Lexi Gwaku kept the Pioneers deficit at one heading into the intermission.
 
Third Quarter:
Keil completed her eighth hat trick of the season and the 11^th of her career to level the score at 4-4 with 10:15 remaining in the third.
 
Caroline Bowers then gave Denver its first lead of the day with 8:27 to go, and Kendra Harris doubled the lead from the arc with 5:39 left on the clock in the third.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Karleigh Mutch and Olivia Ripple found the back of the net 11 seconds apart to open the fourth-quarter scoring and stretch Denver's run to six unanswered and propel the lead to 8-4 with 13:41 to go in regulation.
 
Denver's run stretched to nine unanswered courtesy of Keil's fourth, Kyra Obert's first of the day and Harris' second to make it a 11-4 Pioneer advantage with 5:06 to play.
 
Villanova got its first goal in 30:03 to cut the Denver lead to 11-5, but Thomsen-Marr struck back a little over a minute later to restore the seven-goal advantage.
 
Mutch added her second and Thomsen-Marr completed her hat trick in the final seconds to wrap-up the scoring.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver returns home on Wednesday night to welcome nationally-ranked Colorado to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Opening draw is set for 6 p.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast on Altitude TV and Midco Sports Plus.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets for the final two home games of the 2026 regular season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
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