Denver coach Matt Brown likes to call Pioneers defensive coordinator John Gallant “The Professor” — an apt moniker for a man who before moving to the college ranks taught the game and science at Rock Canyon High School in nearby Littleton, Colo.
Gallant’s students certainly aced their midterm last weekend.
The Pioneers have been a bit of a yo-yo this season, no huge surprise for a team that graduated so many entrenched players from an NCAA semifinalist. But Saturday’s 13-6 rout of Duke in Dallas was a significant step forward as Denver (5-4) closed out non-conference play.
“The group’s just learning,” Brown said. “They’re learning how to play together. They’re learning what not to do. They’re learning their boundaries and limitations. At least last week, I thought we took a better step to figuring out and getting close to what our true identity can be with this group. I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but what’s there is a ton of fight. These guys, they can compete at an ultra-high level and they showed that last Saturday.”
It was actually a 10-goal game until Duke (8-2) collected three goals in the final three minutes, and it was probably the best defensive performance of the season for Denver. It doesn’t hurt to have a few veterans left — notably defenseman Jimmy Freehill and ace short stick Casey Wilson — but there’s still a lot of untested players logging major minutes.
It helps explain why Denver split its first four games. It beat Air Force, Utah, Marist and Quinnipiac, with all but one game decided by at least six goals. It also lost to Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Yale and Ohio State, surrendering 13 goals to Hopkins and 15 each to the other three teams.
But dig into the box scores, and there was a clear trend. Cornell ripped off seven consecutive goals in the first half. Yale collected the game’s first six goals. Ohio State rattled off five in a row to close out the first half. Even Hopkins had a three-goal spurt in less than two minutes to create some separation in what was a tie game in the third quarter.
“The biggest thing this year has been those runs,” Brown said. “In our four losses, you can peg moments in each one of those games where we let a 3-5 goal run occur and that determined the game.”
That wasn’t a problem as Denver held the Blue Devils scoreless for more than 42 minutes. The Pioneers don’t have a dominant faceoff man — a program rarity — but Brown was pleased with the effort his players forced Duke to exert even as the Blue Devils claimed 16 of 22 draws.
And Denver’s offense had a solid day, with Noah Manning (moved down from midfield to attack this season) posting six goals and two assists and steady midfielder Mic Kelly turning in a three-goal, one-assist effort.
It’s an encouraging sign for a coach who has preached the importance of learning, improvement and focusing internally throughout non-conference play. The Big East schedule begins Saturday against Villanova, and the next six weekends will ultimately determine whether the Pioneers make it 2-for-2 in reaching the NCAA tournament under Brown.
“I think we’ve had to remind ourselves as coaches that we don’t have the veteran team that we did last year,” Brown said. “In some cases, we kind of had to go back to basics and just really break down the parts of the game and we’re going to have to continue to do that through this next season of conference play because we just have to continue to get better. We’re not where we need to be quite yet, but it’s been fun.”