Denver Pioneers 2023

[youthathletics]

Tribute to Coach T: Enjoy...

https://denverpioneers.com/watch/?Archi ... pe=Archive

[tech37]

Tribute to Coach T: Enjoy...

https://denverpioneers.com/watch/?Archi ... pe=Archive

Awesome

[molo]

Unless somehow Denver ends up playing in Annapolis or Philly, tomorrow night will be my chance to see BT on the sidelines. I hope it’s a good game.

[darkhaha]

Kind of surprised at the lack of posts on here lately, as it's certainly been an interesting few weeks. The Pios played their best overall game of the season against Villanova on Bill Tierney Day and got my hopes up for their post-season chances. Then they survived what could have been a catastrophic road trip with a pair of 12-10 wins. Up 6-0 in the Towson game, they let the Tigers get back in it. OK; Towson has some good players and Nadelen always seems to get his team up for us. But the St. John's game was kind of scary, as we trailed until the 4th quarter against a winless team that has regularly lost by 10 goals to other opponents this year. Hats off to them for playing hard and making it a good game. DU then took care of business against Providence. I hung around to watch Coach Tierney walk off the field at Barton for the last time (most likely); when he called his wife Helen out to join him for a hug, it was quite a moving moment.

So now we need to win at least two more games to get into the NCAA Tournament. In Friday's last game of the regular season, Marquette will be playing just to get into the Big East Tournament, which the school will be hosting the following week. They've had kind of a schizophrenic season, with wins over Penn State (currently ranked no. 5 in RPI) and a really good Michigan team, overtime losses to Georgetown and Villanova the last two weeks, and losses to Bellermine and Providence. I expect a dogfight. If we win, then win our first round game in the Big East tourney and lose in the championship game, I believe we would get an at-large bid to the NCAAs (the latest Inside Lacrosse Bracketology has us in). If we lose Friday night, we'll have to win the Big East to get to the dance.

Would really like to see DU make a run and send Coach Tierney out in style...

P.S.: I know there's another thread about this, but was really glad to see the administration make the official announcement about Matt Brown. He's a great coach, a class act and a DU guy through and through.

[Puck Swami]

Very good OT road win by the Pios over Marquette 15-14 to lock up the #2 seed in next week's BET. DU still likely needs to still win the first game of the BET to secure an at large berth in the NCAAs.

While DU did own most of the good stats against Marquette, the one bad stat that really hurt DU was goaltending, where Kleban only saved 33% of the shots.

If the DU goaltending remains that poor in the post-season, DU’s stay will be a short one…I think DU needs at least 50% goaltending to have a shot at advancing out of the BET in the NCAAs…

[10stone5]

The latest College Crosse had the Pios and Georgetown making it.

[darkhaha]

Very good OT road win by the Pios over Marquette 15-14 to lock up the #2 seed in next week's BET. DU still likely needs to still win the first game of the BET to secure an at large berth in the NCAAs.

While DU did own most of the good stats against Marquette, the one bad stat that really hurt DU was goaltending, where Kleban only saved 33% of the shots.

If the DU goaltending remains that poor in the post-season, DU’s stay will be a short one…I think DU needs at least 50% goaltending to have a shot at advancing out of the BET in the NCAAs…

Kleban didn’t have a great game, but the defense was frequently out of sync, allowing wide open looks from within seven yards at least four or five times — including on the tying goal at the end of regulation. Also of concern is the fact that DU didn’t score for the last 12 minutes of the fourth quarter and couldn’t hold a late lead. All in all, I’m grateful the Pios escaped with the win. Now it’s time to pick it up a notch and take care of business on Thursday…

[cherrylax]

Have to feel terrible for those Marquette seniors. Three OT losses in a row, where if they go the other way they may be a top 15 team with a chance at an at large bid.

Another disappointing end of game set for Denver where #50 just ran it straight out of bounds. You would think after the Duke game the coaches would have drilled this situation but doesn't appear so.

Really think offense has improved with Lampert moving to attack, just adds a whole new dodging dynamic and immediately helps create offense.

tournament starts Thursday, win and your in.

Looking at some of our 23 commits, Marek Tzagornis just hit 100 points for Dubin Jerome in Ohio. It's his third straight 100+ point season, and honestly he hasn't been playing much late in games due to blowouts. Think he may be a day 1 player for the pios. Was able to watch Niskayuna the other day and Greyson Vorgang has an unreal nose for the goal, team tried to lock him off with a pole and he still put up 5 or 6 points. The steal of this class may be the other Niskayuna product Lucas Klokiw. The kid just screams athleticism and two way midfield. A very similar player to Mic Kelly. DJ Clark at Lawrenceville continues to impress and is also going to be a day 1 starter for the Pio's. Field vision is unreal and really puts himself in great positions to create offense.

[cherrylax]

Well that was anticlimactic. Feel like the BE tournament epitomized this season for the Pio's. Our best game we've played followed by our worst. Villanova was the best I've seen them play this year. Offensively the ball was flying around and looked like Denver of old, defensively we locked down there stars and Kleban played a good game.

Now to Georgetown...

Offensively couldn't generate anything went back to one on one show where one guy tries to create and everybody else watches. Defensively we just looked lost and couldn't handle Georgetown's experience. Kleban was not good. Kudos to Georgetown, they look like the best team in the country right now and if Reilly is healthy I think they make a deep run. An interesting note about Georgetown which could be seen as a positive for Denver is that all there goals except one came from graduate students. No doubt they go back to the portal well this summer, but eventually those Covid years are going to run out.

A disappointing way for this season to end, but honestly this team did more than I expected. This was a young offensive team who struggled at times, but seemed to find there game towards the end of the year (besides Georgetown). Very excited about the development of Avery, Lampert, Manning, and even Richie Connell who I have been tough on but really impressed down the stretch.

Reasons to be optimistic for next year.

From what I'm hearing most of our defensive seniors are coming back (Mercurio, DiBenedetto, Sparrow, Hangland). Great to have that group back for another year with Freehill coming on and Wilson and Anderson holding it down at dmid.

Offensively it's looking like we get most everybody back with question marks around Sillstrop. The kid has been so beat up over the years I absolutely would not blame him for wanting to hang it up. We also hopefully have some guys coming in that will contribute right away. Gotta think offensively Matt Brown may be able to loosen the reigns a little bit and trust his guys to make plays.

DJ Clark. I have said it all along that his kid is going to be a star at DU. Peterburough second leading scorer last summer over Hiltz, Carter Page, and Dante Kulas, all of which are proven producers at the D1 level. He's also been a starter and contributor for one of the top high school teams in the country since he was a Sophomore. Can't wait to see what he does this summer and next spring.

Question marks for next year:

Goaltending. The age old question at DU since Ryan Laplante Graduated is why can't Denver get a goalie consistently above 50%. Jack Thompson was a three year starter, but clearly the staff didn't have confidence in him since they made the change to Kleban. Kleban to his credit performed admirably in the last half of the year, but is he the answer longterm? My hope is that we take a run at Chase Irelan out of Cornell (hopefully TD has nice things to say about DU), have him play next year, and than hand over the reigns to Grayson Manning.

Faceoff. Does Stath have another year? If not we are screwed. The fact that he took EVERY FACEOFF this year is concerning if he isn't coming back.

The 2022 Class. Very limited contribution from this years freshman class outside of Dan Anderson. Really thought Colm Barnett was going to take off after the Duke game, but went the opposite way. The bigger concerns are guys that didn't play at all, mainly Tye Scott. In preseason coach T was hyping him up to be a player but he didn't see the field at all. Was he hurt? Could make the same argument for Cody Malawski, but from what I hear he may have needed a year to get used to the field game (ie. Max Semple).

I am confident that the 2024 Pioneers will be back in the NCAA tournament.

[Farfromgeneva]

Well that was anticlimactic. Feel like the BE tournament epitomized this season for the Pio's. Our best game we've played followed by our worst. Villanova was the best I've seen them play this year. Offensively the ball was flying around and looked like Denver of old, defensively we locked down there stars and Kleban played a good game.

Now to Georgetown...

Offensively couldn't generate anything went back to one on one show where one guy tries to create and everybody else watches. Defensively we just looked lost and couldn't handle Georgetown's experience. Kleban was not good. Kudos to Georgetown, they look like the best team in the country right now and if Reilly is healthy I think they make a deep run. An interesting note about Georgetown which could be seen as a positive for Denver is that all there goals except one came from graduate students. No doubt they go back to the portal well this summer, but eventually those Covid years are going to run out.

A disappointing way for this season to end, but honestly this team did more than I expected. This was a young offensive team who struggled at times, but seemed to find there game towards the end of the year (besides Georgetown). Very excited about the development of Avery, Lampert, Manning, and even Richie Connell who I have been tough on but really impressed down the stretch.

Reasons to be optimistic for next year.

From what I'm hearing most of our defensive seniors are coming back (Mercurio, DiBenedetto, Sparrow, Hangland). Great to have that group back for another year with Freehill coming on and Wilson and Anderson holding it down at dmid.

Offensively it's looking like we get most everybody back with question marks around Sillstrop. The kid has been so beat up over the years I absolutely would not blame him for wanting to hang it up. We also hopefully have some guys coming in that will contribute right away. Gotta think offensively Matt Brown may be able to loosen the reigns a little bit and trust his guys to make plays.

DJ Clark. I have said it all along that his kid is going to be a star at DU. Peterburough second leading scorer last summer over Hiltz, Carter Page, and Dante Kulas, all of which are proven producers at the D1 level. He's also been a starter and contributor for one of the top high school teams in the country since he was a Sophomore. Can't wait to see what he does this summer and next spring.

Question marks for next year:

Goaltending. The age old question at DU since Ryan Laplante Graduated is why can't Denver get a goalie consistently above 50%. Jack Thompson was a three year starter, but clearly the staff didn't have confidence in him since they made the change to Kleban. Kleban to his credit performed admirably in the last half of the year, but is he the answer longterm? My hope is that we take a run at Chase Irelan out of Cornell (hopefully TD has nice things to say about DU), have him play next year, and than hand over the reigns to Grayson Manning.

Faceoff. Does Stath have another year? If not we are screwed. The fact that he took EVERY FACEOFF this year is concerning if he isn't coming back.

The 2022 Class. Very limited contribution from this years freshman class outside of Dan Anderson. Really thought Colm Barnett was going to take off after the Duke game, but went the opposite way. The bigger concerns are guys that didn't play at all, mainly Tye Scott. In preseason coach T was hyping him up to be a player but he didn't see the field at all. Was he hurt? Could make the same argument for Cody Malawski, but from what I hear he may have needed a year to get used to the field game (ie. Max Semple).

I am confident that the 2024 Pioneers will be back in the NCAA tournament.

Been wondering about Scott myself.

[eldeststatesman]

Well that was anticlimactic. Feel like the BE tournament epitomized this season for the Pio's. Our best game we've played followed by our worst. Villanova was the best I've seen them play this year. Offensively the ball was flying around and looked like Denver of old, defensively we locked down there stars and Kleban played a good game.

Now to Georgetown...

Offensively couldn't generate anything went back to one on one show where one guy tries to create and everybody else watches. Defensively we just looked lost and couldn't handle Georgetown's experience. Kleban was not good. Kudos to Georgetown, they look like the best team in the country right now and if Reilly is healthy I think they make a deep run. An interesting note about Georgetown which could be seen as a positive for Denver is that all there goals except one came from graduate students. No doubt they go back to the portal well this summer, but eventually those Covid years are going to run out.

A disappointing way for this season to end, but honestly this team did more than I expected. This was a young offensive team who struggled at times, but seemed to find there game towards the end of the year (besides Georgetown). Very excited about the development of Avery, Lampert, Manning, and even Richie Connell who I have been tough on but really impressed down the stretch.

Reasons to be optimistic for next year.

From what I'm hearing most of our defensive seniors are coming back (Mercurio, DiBenedetto, Sparrow, Hangland). Great to have that group back for another year with Freehill coming on and Wilson and Anderson holding it down at dmid.

Offensively it's looking like we get most everybody back with question marks around Sillstrop. The kid has been so beat up over the years I absolutely would not blame him for wanting to hang it up. We also hopefully have some guys coming in that will contribute right away. Gotta think offensively Matt Brown may be able to loosen the reigns a little bit and trust his guys to make plays.

DJ Clark. I have said it all along that his kid is going to be a star at DU. Peterburough second leading scorer last summer over Hiltz, Carter Page, and Dante Kulas, all of which are proven producers at the D1 level. He's also been a starter and contributor for one of the top high school teams in the country since he was a Sophomore. Can't wait to see what he does this summer and next spring.

Question marks for next year:

Goaltending. The age old question at DU since Ryan Laplante Graduated is why can't Denver get a goalie consistently above 50%. Jack Thompson was a three year starter, but clearly the staff didn't have confidence in him since they made the change to Kleban. Kleban to his credit performed admirably in the last half of the year, but is he the answer longterm? My hope is that we take a run at Chase Irelan out of Cornell (hopefully TD has nice things to say about DU), have him play next year, and than hand over the reigns to Grayson Manning.

Faceoff. Does Stath have another year? If not we are screwed. The fact that he took EVERY FACEOFF this year is concerning if he isn't coming back.

The 2022 Class. Very limited contribution from this years freshman class outside of Dan Anderson. Really thought Colm Barnett was going to take off after the Duke game, but went the opposite way. The bigger concerns are guys that didn't play at all, mainly Tye Scott. In preseason coach T was hyping him up to be a player but he didn't see the field at all. Was he hurt? Could make the same argument for Cody Malawski, but from what I hear he may have needed a year to get used to the field game (ie. Max Semple).

I am confident that the 2024 Pioneers will be back in the NCAA tournament.

Been wondering about Scott myself.

Do we know what serniors are coming back next year ? I think scott had an injury of some sort that kept him out for the season. Given which guys "could" come back ... this team next year could be dangerous.
Any input on FO / Close / Goalie ? From what Ive heard many of the contributors are coming back, add in some injured guys who missed the year / some freshman - could be a perfect recipe to win the BE. Especially given that g-town is probably done with this "ACC/Ivy" poaching none sense that just isnt sustainable at all. Look at the year rutgers had ... (same approach). Bound to fall off at some point ... curious what how Nova and Marquette will respond next year. Big East is A 2 BID league - IMO

[molo]

Ironic that Princeton effectively sealed the Pios’ fate. Slim chance on the bubble burst when Princeton (and Michigan) eliminated the Pioneers’ hopes for a bid.

[Puck Swami]

It wasn't just Princeton and Michigan's last weekend bid thieving that did-in the Pios this year.

DU's wins over Ohio State and North Carolina meant little in the end, due to those normally good teams underperforming.

And the Pios' dumb losses to Duke and Air Force hurt badly. Win those games and DU was in...

But alas, this team was young up front and wasn't hugely talented (no all american level players), the offense was inconsistent, the defense was not as good as it should have been and goaltending was a crapshoot from game to game, so while DU did not make the dance, they can't say they deserved to go, either. That last awful performance against Georgetown was bad a DU game as I've seen in the Tierney era - a true cringe fest that was like watching someone kick your puppy over and over again until you just wanted to look away after a while.

If DU wants to get back to the NCAAs, they need Stathakis to stay another year, they need a real goalie and they need to speed up the ball movement to get defences sliding again, and they need more speed in clearing that leads to transition goals.

We were blessed to have Tierney since 2009, and we'll never have a better coach, likely in any sport.

Thank you, coach T.

[10stone5]

I thought Thompson did well in goal in 2021 and 2022.
This year only Hincks did over 50% among Big East starters.

Goaltending is down across the board,
there isn’t a single DI starter at 60% this year.

[cherrylax]

I thought Thompson did well in goal in 2021 and 2022.
This year only Hincks did over 50% among Big East starters.

Goaltending is down across the board,
there isn’t a single DI starter at 60% this year.

Agreed but we've also had goaltending games in losses of 20%, 38%, 50%, 48%, and 36%. If we get the Air Force and Duke game above 50% we are dancing. This has been a problem for years where I see goalies steal games against DU but I haven't seen a DU goalie steal one since who knows when.

[Pio9]

Thank you Coach T for all you have done for Denver Lacrosse.

[Pios24]

Unpopular opinion: It wasn't the goalie.

While Kleban ended the season with tough games against Gtown and Marquette, statistically he wasn't the reason we didn't make the tourney. Because of the low number of shots faced, his 47.3 save percentage 95/106 meant that he was less than 6 saves from 50% over 650 minutes played.That's a single save every 100 minutes.
Even when compared to the Big East Goalie of the year (51.3%), that was about a single save per game.
So even if we had the Big East Goalie of the Year, we still lose every one of the games we lost, except maybe Duke (where he only played the first half).
And when you look at GAA, a stat that talks to overall D effectiveness and the burden on the O to win, Kleban and the returning D held opponents to almost a full goal less than the best of the Big East. (9.45 to 10.43) and when compared to the Goalie of the year, (13.61) they gave our O more than 4 goals per game to play with.
It's easy to look at low save percentage in the losses and say that was the problem, but that single save difference wasn't enough to overcome the space between Gtwon offensive output and our output. Luckily, most of that Offensive output at Gtown (and Nova) has ended their eligibility while we return almost all of our starters.
The cage is in good shape next year.
Our D will be continue to be strong with Kleban/McNamara in goal.

[westlax]

With all the talk about how great the Denver D is, I was surprised to see them at the bottom of the D1 statistics pile on two categories. Man Down defense and Caused Turnovers. Denver needs to take a good look at how they reload. Not one player took a FO except Stathakis all season. Somehow, they have to get more bench players some time on the field because a couple of key injuries could really become a problem.