MEDIA RELEASE
Cannizzaro tallied seven points in Denver’s 16th-straight BIG EAST win
WASHINGTON – The [4/4] University of Denver men’s lacrosse team opened the second season in its 2016 campaign with a 17-4 victory over Georgetown in Denver’s BIG EAST opener on Saturday April 2, at Cooper Field.
Denver had five different players score multiple goals for the fifth time since the start of the 2015 season. Junior Connor Cannizzaro (Cazenovia, N.Y.) led the Pioneers with seven points on two goals and five helpers, tying a career high in assists (Duke/Feb. 14, 2015). Senior captain Jack Bobzien (Littleton, Colo.) juniors Zach Miller (Steamburg, N.Y.) and Tyler Pace (Coquitlam, B.C.) and freshman Austin French (Danville, Calif.) were the other four Pioneers with multiple goals in DU’s BIG EAST opener. Bobzien added two helpers and Miller added one to round out their afternoons.
Sophomore Brendan Bomberry (Ohsweken, Ontario) contributed three points on a goal and two assists. Sophomore Trevor Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) went 14-for-21 with six ground balls for Denver, while freshman netminder Alex Ready (Lancaster, Pa.) got back on track Saturday with nine saves in just over 53 minutes of action.
Coming off its first loss in over a year, Denver raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first 11:01. Miller had two goals in the opening stretch, and was joined by goals in the run by sophomore Connor Donahue (Groton, Mass.), the first career goal for senior Chris Hampton (Bethesda, Md.) and the third goal of the season from French. After a Georgetown goal from senior Joe Bucci, Bomberry scored his first to extend his point total in the opening quarter to three off Cannizzaro’s 14th assist of the season.
The scoring cooled off in the second quarter with Bobzien scoring the only two goals of the period. Cannizzaro had his second assist of the contest with 9:03 to go in the second on the senior captain’s first of two goals.
Denver’s offense got back in sync in the third quarter, netting another five goals, including the first two of the day from Cannizzaro. Georgetown’s Chris Donovan got the quarter started to cut the Denver lead to six, but French’s second of the day and senior Bryce Parietti’s (Centennial, Colo.) third of the campaign and 12th career goal pushed Denver’s lead to 10-2 with just over eight minutes to play in the third quarter.
Following an Eduardo White goal, Denver ended the quarter on a 3-0 run with two goals from Cannizzaro and the first of the day from freshman Colton Jackson (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) to send Denver into the final 15 minutes with a 13-3 advantage.
Pace scored his first two goals of the day in the fourth quarter, with the second one being a man-up goal off a beautiful feed from his road trip roommate Miller. Sophomore Colton McCaffrey (Parker, Colo.) netted his second of the campaign in a scramble play in-front of the cage to give the Pioneers a 16-4 edge. Freshman Nate Marano (Tustin, Calif.) closed out the scoring on the day with his eighth of the season off McCaffrey’s second point of the campaign and his first assist.
UP NEXT: Denver wraps-up its stretch of five of six on the road next Saturday as the Pioneers travel to [5/6] Villanova. Faceoff is set for 10 a.m. MT on Fox College Sports.
POSTGAME NOTES:
– Denver is now 46-10 as a top-5 team since turning Division I, including 13-2 as the No. 4 team in the USILA Coaches’ Poll.
– The Pioneers had five players score multiple goals for the fifth time since the start of the 2015 season.
– DU stretched its win streak against BIG EAST teams to 16 games, the second-longest active conference winning streak and the ninth longest in NCAA history.
– Head coach Bill Tierney (seventh season) is now 91-26 at DU and 363-119 in his career (32nd season).
– Zach Miller extended his consecutive-game point streak to 46 games (entered this week 2nd in the nation). Miller has 143 points (79G-64A) during that stretch. Miller has had a point in every collegiate game he has played in (missed one game in 2014).
– Connor Cannizzaro extended his consecutive-game point streak to 34 games (entered the week 8th in the nation). Cannizzaro has 145 points (91G-54A) in that stretch.
– Cannizzaro also extended his consecutive-game goal streak to 34 games (entered the weekend first in the country). Cannizzaro has 91 goals in that stretch.
– Cannizzaro’s five assists on Saturday tied for the third-most in Denver’s single-game history.
– Sophomore Trevor Baptiste has double-digit faceoff wins in all 27 games of his collegiate career.