WASHINGTON D.C. – The No. 17 University of Denver women's lacrosse team claimed its seventh-consecutive BIG EAST regular season title and its 13^th conference regular season title overall (six in MPSF) following an 11-5 win over [RV] Georgetown on Saturday afternoon at Cooper Field.
 
Top-seeded Denver will take on No. 4 seed Marquette in the BIG EAST Semifinal on Thursday at 4 p.m. MT at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Olivia Ripple finished with four goals to lead the Pioneer offense with her 12^th hat trick of the season and the 25^th of her career.
 
Eva Thomsen-Marr posted a six-point afternoon on a pair of goals and four assists. Ryan Dineen had a pair of tallies to round out Denver's multi-goal scorers. Caroline Keil had a goal and two assists in the first half for a three-point day. Caroline Bowers matched Keil's stat line, with all her points coming in the second half.
 
Denver goalie Lexi Gwaku stopped eight of the 13 shots she saw Saturday to earn her 13^th win of the season.
 
Megan Klingenberg led the Denver defense with four caused turnovers and four ground balls. Carly Frohnapfel had a pair of CTs, a pair of grounders and three draw controls.  
 
First Quarter:
Denver got on the board first when Olivia Ripple re-directed an Eva Thomsen-Marr pass and the bouncing ball beat the Georgetown goalie to open the scoring just 3:05 into the game.
 
Ryan Dineen doubled Denver's advantage on the next possession, finishing the first of two Caroline Keil feeds in the opening 5:10. Keil hit Ripple for her second of the day to make it a 3-0 game with 9:50 left in the opening quarter.
 
Georgetown's first goal of the afternoon came with 2:14 to go in the first, but Keil fired a rocket from the arc for her first goal and third point of the opening quarter to restore the three-goal advantage heading into the quarter break.
 
Second Quarter:
Dineen buried her second of the day off another Thomsen-Marr assist to stretch the Denver lead out to four for the first time Saturday with 12:41 left before halftime.
 
The Hoyas first two-goal run ended the half to cut the Denver lead to 5-3 at the intermission. Lexi Gwaku made two saves in the final five seconds of the half to keep the margin at two. Gwaku made five stops in the first half.
 
Third Quarter:
Ripple completed her hat trick on Denver's first offensive possession of the second half to get the Denver advantage back to three in the opening minutes of the frame. Thomsen-Marr fed Ripple from X for a wide-open step down for Ripple's fourth of the day to extend the Pioneers lead to four with 8:37 to go in the third.
 
Anne McGovern's second of the day for the Hoyas made it a 7-4 game with 6:35 remaining in the frame to send the game to the media timeout.
 
Gwaku's first save of the half came on a McGovern free-position shot to bring her total to six. The Pioneers cleared and took their three-goal lead into the final quarter of the regular season.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Thomsen-Marr opened the final frame with her first two goals of the afternoon to balloon the Denver lead to five in the final six minutes of action in D.C.
 
Georgetown's Danica Blix halted Denver's fourth multi-goal run of the day with her first of the afternoon to make it a 9-5 game with 4:12 to go in regulation.
 
The Pioneers scored the final two goals of the game in the final minute. Caroline Bowers finished a Kendra Harris feed and then Harris scored off Thomsen-Marr's fourth apple to close out the regular season finale.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets for next week's BIG EAST Women's Lacrosse Championship are on sale now. Semifinal action will take place at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on April 30 and 4 p.m. MT and 7 p.m. MT, while the opening draw of Saturday's championship is set for 1 p.m. MT. BUY TICKETS HERE
 
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