No. 5 Denver held off a late rally by Fairfield to claim the inaugural ECAC Tournament championship with an 11-9 win this afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
The Pioneers, who also won the ECAC regular-season title, earned the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid with the win and extended its winning streak to a program-record 10 wins.
“A great deal of credit needs to go to Fairfield and all those young men that competed and didn’t give up for the full 60 minutes,” said head coach Bill Tierney. “I am proud of our guys for sticking in there and coming up with goals when we needed them, but our team just learned something out there and that is to never give up until that buzzer sounds. I am excited that we were able to secure the first-ever ECAC Championship and to get the automotive qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. It’s been a long season, but we’re ready to keep playing and show everyone what Denver lacrosse is all about.”
Denver led 11-4 early in the fourth quarter before the Stags mounted their comeback with five consecutive goals to cut the deficit to two goals with 3:04 remaining. The Pioneers sealed the win as goaltender Jamie Faus (Lakeville, Conn.) stopped the Stags final two attempts on goal.
ECAC Player of the Year Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario), sophomore Eric Law (Centennial, Colo.), senior Todd Baxter (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and junior Alex Demopoulos (Canton, Conn.) scored two goals each for Denver and Faus earned his 12th win of the season with 13 saves.