DENVER – Led by two goals from junior Sean Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, N.Y.) and freshman Tyler Pace (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) and Zach Miller (Steamburg, N.Y.), the University of Denver men’s lacrosse team topped the Denver Outlaws in the Fifth Annual Colorado Lacrosse Showcase at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The exhibition is the Pioneers’ last of the fall season.
“This was a great way to end our fall season,” said head coach Bill Tierney. “After being able to scrimmage against the Canadian National Team last week, this was another opportunity to see how far we’ve come this fall, and to see what we still have to work on before the spring season.”
Pace also finished with two assists for four points while taking five shots and finishing with two ground balls. Miller finished with nine shots and one ground ball, while Cannizzaro converted on both his attempts.
Also scoring for the Pioneers was sophomore transfer Jack Bobzien (Littleton, Colo.) with a goal and two assists, followed by senior Jeremy Noble (Orangeville, Ontario) who had a goal and an assist. Senior Tyler Simmons (Belvedere, Calif.) and sophomore Colin Woolford (Norwalk, Conn.) both chipped in with a goal each, while junior Mike Riis (Carlsbad, Calif.) tallied an assist.
Senior goalie Jamie Faus (Lakeville, Conn.) made nine saves in the first half, followed by junior Ryan LaPlante (Fort Collins, Colo.) who had eight saves in 27 minutes of action. Freshman goalie Ryan Purcell (Levittown, N.Y.) saw three minutes of action making one save.
New faces graced the face-off X for the Pioneers as sophomore Chris Hampton (Bethesda, Md.) won 7-of-12 face-offs, followed by sophomore Christian Thomas (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) who won 5-of-6. Hampton also led the way with five ground balls on the day.
Greg Downing led the Outlaws with two goals, while Zack Greer finished with a goal and two assists. Also scoring for the outlaws was Chris Bocklet and Alex Demopoulos. Making his return to the Mile-High City, Demopoulos also chipped in with one assist.
Goalie Charlie Cipriano made 18 saves in 55 minutes of action, while Ben Brown relieved him for the final five minutes, making five saves.
Other former Pioneers who saw action for the Outlaws was Cameron Flint, Chase Carraro, Chace Calkin, Taylor Young, Kyle Hercher, Andrew lay and Colin Scott.
The Pioneers led the way in shots (58-46), ground balls (38-28) and face-offs (12-of-18 to 6-of-18), while the Outlaws made 23 saves.
The Outlaws’ Demopoulos scored the lone goal in the first quarter, before Pace, Noble, Cannizzaro, Miller and Woolford all scored in the second quarter to take a 5-1 lead. Coming out of halftime, the Outlaws strung together three goals to pull to within 5-4, before Cannizzaro netted his second of the game to make it 6-4.
Miller opened the fourth quarter with his second of the game off a pass from Bobzien, followed by Pace’s second and Simmons’ first for a 9-4 advantage. Downing scored for the Outlaws to snap the Pioneers’ scoring streak, however, Bobzien scored in the final five minutes to make it 10-5.
The Pioneers’ 2014 schedule will be released in the coming weeks.
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