Denver Pioneers 2024

[cherrylax]

What. A. Game.

Couldn't ask for a better game and environment than it was on Saturday. Pio's showed true grit again coming back from four goals down late in the third to win it.

Hearing a lot of sour grapes over on the Cornell thread claiming that Denver was on the receiving end of "Home cooking", which is pretty comical considering that these refs were flown in from the east coast for this game, and are not the usual squad. Overall I definitely think they missed a couple calls, but you can't determine what lead to the double 2 minute non releaseable. Never the less, Denver put up a masterclass of Man up offense and took every opportunity.

On another note Holy smokes is Cornell's offense good. Denver at times looked like they were holding on for dear life as Cornell zipped the ball around. Kudos to Kleban for making some timely big saves. He's also seemed to settle into the clear a bit more, and I'm not doing Hail Mary's evertime Denver clears the ball anymore.

What a huge 4th quarter from Stathakis as well. 8 for 8 on draws and when Cornell closed the gap to 1 came up huge winning the next face-off.

On to Le Moyne. First year in D1, but a perennial power in D2. Should be a game where we see a lot of guys play, and hopefully get some other guys some rest.

[DU-fan]

I'm impressed to see Denver ranked #1. Although, I am not sure that is a good thing considering how many teams seem to lose as soon as they are ranked #1. Hopefully, Denver focuses on Yale and doesn't look polls. Obviously, the #1 ranking is a reflection of other top teams losing last week more than Denver's result beating LeMoyne.

Curious what people think is the biggest reason for Denver being 5-0 with clutch come from behind wins. Is it David Metzbower's offensive style gelling with the team? Brownie supporting Metzbower as OC? A different team culture without Tierney? Or just more experience and confidence for the boys?

[cc2519]

I'm impressed to see Denver ranked #1. Although, I am not sure that is a good thing considering how many teams seem to lose as soon as they are ranked #1. Hopefully, Denver focuses on Yale and doesn't look polls. Obviously, the #1 ranking is a reflection of other top teams losing last week more than Denver's result beating LeMoyne.

Curious what people think is the biggest reason for Denver being 5-0 with clutch come from behind wins. Is it David Metzbower's offensive style gelling with the team? Brownie supporting Metzbower as OC? A different team culture without Tierney? Or just more experience and confidence for the boys?

I've watched the Pios for years, and seeing the Cornell game in person, the offense just seems different this year, more movement on and off ball, confidence, etc. The small A, Lampert, so quick and shifty, really seems to be the party starter to get the D off balance at the beginning of the settled O.

But I'm no lacrosse expert, just saying what I see...

[Farfromgeneva]

Should’ve seen the Denver ECAC years. They’d move the ball super well for years back then.

[Denver14]

As to how the 5-0 team looks compared to past seasons, I would offer this. The offense looks more like the DU final four teams, and I believe that is the case because there are often six players on the field who can score. A team planning for Denver the past few seasons could focus on stopping, say Jack Hannah or similar, and that would undo the offense. In the final four years, stop Berg, and you'd get Miller, or Pace, or Canz, or Matthews or Law or Bobzien, or...etc. so it was hard to defend, or teams would defend the hign scrorer of the prior game and that simply meant a different high scorer. Another factor related to that is the outside shooting. It seems if someone packs it in on D, there are outside shooters this season that were missing the last few years (like JJ and Connell and Mercurio) who will make the D pay. So that's my take, the team looks similar to DU 2010-2016, and it's IMO, a good look. The defense is also smothering, second half vs LeMoyne was a master class in double teams and stealing the ball. Final note, Cornell had the ball at the end of the game with plenty of time, and threw ball out of bounds, so on the list of how did Cornell lose, there was more than the penalty to point to.

[LaxAllStars]

Bill Tierney, former coach at DU, conversation March 8

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show ... ey-e2gi2oc

[cherrylax]

Well Shucks... Tough loss at home, but I think we all knew this team wasn't going undefeated. Think for the first time the Pio's got totally outworked all over the field, and Yale really exploited some of Denver's weaknesses.

Ground Balls were 28-17 to Yale. Simply unacceptable to be beat like that. Felt like Yale Possessed us to death and the few chances we had to pick up a big GB in our defensive end didn't happen. Seemed like in the first half we were denying Brandau the ball, but went away from that in the second. What a player he is though, see's the field better than anybody I've watched this year. Clearing I thought was exceptional, as Yale does 10 man almost the whole game. Team looked poised and seems to have fixed there early season clearing issues. Goaltending ending up at 42%...sigh... We are so hit or miss, sometimes he makes tremendous doorstep saves, and then gives up a 15 yard step back with :05 on the shot clock, which just has to crush your teams morale.

Face offs were bad. Not just #37 but our wing play and transitionally we were not good. It's hard for me to watch our face off guy go out and lost 10 straight and have the coaches still run him out there. I understand that he's great but somedays you just don't have your fastball. My guess is the coaches don't want to jeopardize his confidence for the long run since the last time he competed against anybody for reps was against TD. On another note, what the hell are we going to do next year????

Offensively I felt we were unlucky. I counted 8 posts in the game. Still think this team is figuring out there offensive identity, as different guys are playing week in and week out. #23 has disappeared and playing as a third line midfielder, did hit the post on a man up opportunity, but just disappointing to not see him take advantage of his last year as Pio.

Have to learn from this one and get ready for our first road trip in a while. Playing against a hungry Ohio State team, who needs a signature win before jumping into the Big10 gauntlet. Last time we played them they played a ton of zone, but with this year's team showing good form on the man advantage I would be surprised if Ohio State went that direction.

[henryben]

Well Shucks... Tough loss at home, but I think we all knew this team wasn't going undefeated. Think for the first time the Pio's got totally outworked all over the field, and Yale really exploited some of Denver's weaknesses.

Ground Balls were 28-17 to Yale. Simply unacceptable to be beat like that. Felt like Yale Possessed us to death and the few chances we had to pick up a big GB in our defensive end didn't happen. Seemed like in the first half we were denying Brandau the ball, but went away from that in the second. What a player he is though, see's the field better than anybody I've watched this year. Clearing I thought was exceptional, as Yale does 10 man almost the whole game. Team looked poised and seems to have fixed there early season clearing issues. Goaltending ending up at 42%...sigh... We are so hit or miss, sometimes he makes tremendous doorstep saves, and then gives up a 15 yard step back with :05 on the shot clock, which just has to crush your teams morale.

Face offs were bad. Not just #37 but our wing play and transitionally we were not good. It's hard for me to watch our face off guy go out and lost 10 straight and have the coaches still run him out there. I understand that he's great but somedays you just don't have your fastball. My guess is the coaches don't want to jeopardize his confidence for the long run since the last time he competed against anybody for reps was against TD. On another note, what the hell are we going to do next year????

Offensively I felt we were unlucky. I counted 8 posts in the game. Still think this team is figuring out there offensive identity, as different guys are playing week in and week out. #23 has disappeared and playing as a third line midfielder, did hit the post on a man up opportunity, but just disappointing to not see him take advantage of his last year as Pio.

Have to learn from this one and get ready for our first road trip in a while. Playing against a hungry Ohio State team, who needs a signature win before jumping into the Big10 gauntlet. Last time we played them they played a ton of zone, but with this year's team showing good form on the man advantage I would be surprised if Ohio State went that direction.

I was there and agree with your take. Goalie made some huge saves but let in a few softies. As good as Sillstrop is, I think Lampert is the straw that stirs the drink for the offense. What a player. To be that quick AND a threat to feed off his dodges must make it hell for defenses.

[molo]

I just finished listening to Q’s interview with Tierney. Some interesting stories by would like to have heard more specific coaching stuff. Both of them like to play up their blue collar backgrounds and recall their days at Levittown Memorial and Lynbrook, real salt of the earth schools to hear them tell it. I missed the part about the public schools that they sent and send their kids to.

[Puck Swami]

The DU performance vs Yale showed me that this Denver team is just not a top 5 program this season right now. Not at all..

The poor Denver effort level on ground balls, the poor performance on faceoffs, the many hit goalposts and the way Yale manhandled them on DU's field before a sellout crowd was really disheartening to watch.

The Pios really had a chance to build some serious campus and community interest in this team with that top ranking, but that's gone, now.

Now it's on to the mid-march gauntlet of three straight road games, sandwiched around final exams (always treacherous times for our quarter-system school). I am having a hard time seeing Denver win more than one of these games...

[Puck Swami]

Good bounce back 9-6 win for the Pios on the road against Ohio State in Columbus to go to 6-1. That's a win they needed to have, and they got it.

Stathakis dominated the face-offs, Kleban made 13 saves and the balanced DU offense took care of the rest against a non-top 20 OSU team. Still a lot of work to do on ground balls and turnovers, which is quite concerning now that we're getting to the halfway point of the season. Those things are largely a matter of higher effort level and decision-making skills, the two areas that are fixable. Those need to work well when a team does not have all-American talent levels.

Now, it's on to play Duke in Severn, Maryland next weekend. This is a game where the Pioneers will need to have everything working well to have a shot at the upset. I don't expect DU to win this game, but I do want to see them compete hard and push the Dukies where possible.

[cherrylax]

Going to be very interesting to see defensive matchups this week versus Duke. If I was coaching against this team I would be very tempted to match up Mercurio versus O'Neal. Don't get me wrong I still believe DiBenedetto is our best all around defensemen, but with O'Neal's size and speed I just feel like Mercurio may be able to match that a bit more. I would not be surprised to see us go the Brandau route and try and shut O'Neal at X and adjacent passes.

What I'm guessing matchups will be is DB on O'Neal, JF on Zawada, and AH on Williams. No doubt that this will be the best attack line we play this year, and I love playing this team right before we begin Big East play.

Always a good match up between Stath and Naso as well. Glad to see Stath bounce back last week against OSU. Seemed to really just take what they were giving him.

Does anyone know if there will be a broadcast of the game?

[GaitsRightHand]

Going to be very interesting to see defensive matchups this week versus Duke. If I was coaching against this team I would be very tempted to match up Mercurio versus O'Neal. Don't get me wrong I still believe DiBenedetto is our best all around defensemen, but with O'Neal's size and speed I just feel like Mercurio may be able to match that a bit more. I would not be surprised to see us go the Brandau route and try and shut O'Neal at X and adjacent passes.

What I'm guessing matchups will be is DB on O'Neal, JF on Zawada, and AH on Williams. No doubt that this will be the best attack line we play this year, and I love playing this team right before we begin Big East play.

Always a good match up between Stath and Naso as well. Glad to see Stath bounce back last week against OSU. Seemed to really just take what they were giving him.

Does anyone know if there will be a broadcast of the game?

On Flo Live - https://www.flolive.tv/live/97633

Something Denver has going for them... Duke plays Cuse tomorrow. So, Duke gets 3 days of rest in between games.

[cherrylax]

Disappointing but not too surprising. I thought we were better than Duke in a lot of areas, but this was by far our worst offensive showing this year.

Offense: Totally one dimensional, looked like we were totally unprepared and lost. I can give you the whole game plan in one sentence. Bring a shorty down and try and get Lampart switched. Problem with that is we didn't have anyone who could actually beat a short stick, and I counted several caused turovers from SSDM"s. The Duke goalie was superb, but we also did not shoot well. Lot's of outside bombs either at his feet or in his chest. Second half was definitely an improvement, but this team did not look ready at all.

Face Offs: Bright spot, thought Stath did a tremendous job of taking what Naso gave him. Seemed like he knew Naso was just going to pull it straight back so he just beat him to the spot.

Defense: Great output. For playing a ton of defense I really thought we did a tremendous job. 11 goals is deceiving considering we had to start pressing out and gave up a few short handed and double teaming. 50% save percentage was also a bit deceiving, as I thought Kleban had a great game and has really improved. One thing that I have noticed since our first week at Hopkins, this team gives up more goals in the last :05 seconds of the shot clock than any I have watched in the shot clock era. It's painful, what should be a huge momentum boost of causing a shot clock violation swings 180 degrees and crushes moral when we give one up with 2 seconds left. Two times yesterday I saw Zawada and O'Neal have the ball with less than five seconds left, and everyone in the whole stadium and watching across all of FloTV knew what they were going to do and yet sure enough inside roll dive goal, ZERO help defense. I don't know what the staff can do to address this, but it is a real issue.

Would've been great to have that win, cause I think it would've locked up an NCAA birth and potentially a home game. Now I have to think we need to beat Gtown atleast once, or make it to the big east championship.

On another note what a rip off that broadcast was. I had to pay $30 to listen to that Buffoon croon about every Baltimore player. Not to mention the really poor camera work. Not sure how Flotv survives, but I will def not be renewing.

[Puck Swami]

Great home win vs the Hoyas, especially in that final quarter when Denver took over the game when it needed to be won.

Given the 9-2 record and a #4 RPI, DU is now in the driver's seat and looking at hosting an NCAA game if they finish strong and run the table in the BE.

Now it's on to face a pretty good Providence team at Providence, with the incentive to lock-up top seed in the BET.

[cherrylax]

Pio's have faired well against the Friars in the past, but this has trap game written all over it. At this point as long as the Pio's make it to the Big East title game we should have a home playoff game locked up. Cannot afford to slip up against two very dangerous teams down the stretch.

On another note it's very interesting to see the pio's run out some new faces this late in the season. Seeing Caldwell really flourish on the defensive end gives me hope for the future. Same with Tzagournis, looks very poised and may not be seeing the points yet but really seems to be settling into the offense nicely and giving another look. LOVING the new second line with Manning and Connell. Two guys who have traditionally drawn poles should be getting short stick match ups and look to be thriving. Personally I would love to see DJ clark being the facilitator in that group, but for some reason the kid can't play more than man up.

As long as we stay strong in the middle of the field I think this team can play with anyone.

[Farfromgeneva]

Know I’ve inquired before but is Tye Scott just done or gone?

[cherrylax]

Know I’ve inquired before but is Tye Scott just done or gone?

Have seen him roaming the sidelines, always in street clothes. Either hurt or ineligible

[Puck Swami]

Denver avoided the trap game in Providence, and got the late goals they needed to pull away on PC's senior day -- those games are always tricky and PC has really improved, too.

The Pios had a boatload of turnovers (21!), and I am sure Matt Brown and his staff will be trying to clean this up as the playoffs approach. Against a better team, 21 TOs is a recipe for disaster...

Hope the Pios can have a good senior day against Marquette!

[cherrylax]

Is anyone else a little confused at how people can have Denver ranked as low as 10th??? I am clearly a homer, and have never taken off my crimson and gold glasses, but I look at the teams ahead of us and I'm just confused. Maryland for example has Wins over Syracuse and Penn State with losses, to Michigan, Hopkins, Virginia, and ND and somehow they're ranked ahead of us. The lacrosse world has always had an east coast bias, but I think thats even more relevant now that we don't have Coach T at the helm. Whatever just keep winning.

Marquette's going to be coming in guns hot on Friday night and Pio's have to come out firing. Potentially the last home game of the season has to get the boys fired up.