Amazing that this first year midfielder has not received this honor before. The St. Cathariens, Ontario native has taken the Great Western Lacrosse League by storm. On Saturday, he lit Air Force up for five goals, extending his Denver single season goal record to 44. Granted, Lincoln had extensive lacrosse experience prior to arriving at Denver (Minto Cup in Canada and is currently 21 years of age). However, scoring that many goals from the midfield while attracting long pole attention from the opposition since the early stages of the season is an insane feat for even a senior. Lincoln has a tremendous knack for scoring and is a tough player who is willing to sell-out to find the back of the net. Lincoln is certainly worthy of All-American this season.
Archive for April 28th, 2008
MORAGA, Calif. – Sophomore Lexi Sanders (Greenwood Village, Colo.) scored four goals and junior Megan Carver (Baltimore, Md.) added a goal and four assists, helping the No. 19 University of Denver women’s lacrosse team topple Saint Mary’s 20-8 on Sunday afternoon to close out the regular season. The Pioneers (12-5, 5-0 MPSF) swept the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season schedule for the second-straight year and are 14-1 in the past three seasons.
After SMC (2-14, 0-5) took an early lead, senior Megan Tyrie (Greenwood Village, Colo.), Sanders and junior Karen Morton (Adelaide, Australia) all scored within a five-minute stretch. The Gaels tied the game with just over 15 minutes remaining in the first half, but freshman Jocelyn Kuchta (Ridgefield, Conn.) responded with a pair of goals 85 seconds apart.
Saint Mary’s cut the lead back to one with a goal, but junior Dani Espinosa (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and sophomore Megan Zeman (Littleton, Colo.) both scored in the final 10 minutes of the period to give Denver a 7-4 halftime lead.
The Pioneers blew the game open in the second half, scoring seven-straight goals in the first 5:30, including three by Sanders and one each from Zeman, Carver, freshman Tulley Stapp (Denver, Colo.) and sophomore Ali Flury (Arnold, Md.). The Gaels cut the lead by two, but DU went on a 5-0 run to put it away. Flury completed a hat trick, and junior Steph Coyne (Baltimore, Md.) scored. Junior Molly Snively (Castle Rock, Colo.), who entered the game with five career goals, doubled her previous season total with a hat trick against the Gaels and added an assist.
The NCAA leader in caused turnovers, Denver forced 12 turnovers in the game, including three from reigning MPSF Player of the Week senior Kelly O’Connell (Baltimore, Md.), and two from Morton. Morton’s goal today increased her career total to 134, tying her with Kristie Leggio for third on DU’s all-time list. Steph Greenlees (2003-06) scored 187 goals for the Pioneers, and Patience Baldwin (2001-04) had 148.
Denver’s 20 goals tie for eighth on the team’s single-game record list. This was the fourth time this season that DU scored at least 20 goals. Coyne, whose second assist against Cal on Saturday broke Denver’s single season record, past Greenlees for third on the Pioneers’ single season points list with 77 this year. Leggio holds the top two spots with 111 last season and 104 in 2006.
After their first round bye, the Pioneers will begin the MPSF Tournament in Berkeley on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. with their opponent to be determined.
EDWARDS — Battle Mountain lacrosse entered Saturday’s game against Grand Junction without five starters, and that was only half of what was missing for the Huskies.
“I couldn’t get my kids up for the game,” said Battle Mountain coach Bob Daino, who was glad to escape with a 9-7 win in Edwards.
“After the Aspen game Wednesday (which they won 13-9), the kids were so high. Today, we should have won by 15 goals, and the kids were just walking in their sleep,” he said.
Grand Junction held a 6-5 lead against Battle Mountain before the Huskies rallied behind some inspired play by attackman Coleby Henzlik.
“We were losing faceoffs like crazy, and finally, I got Coleby in there, and he won a few and turned the tide,” Daino said. “He’s fabulous. I can’t ask enough of him. He’ll do anything.”
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Colorado Mammoth fell behind early in Saturday’s game, allowing five goals on the San Jose Stealth’s first six shots, and then battled back to within one, only to be shut out in the fourth quarter and lose.
Despite putting 15 more shots on goal than the Stealth, the Mammoth was stifled offensively in an 11-6 loss at the HP Pavilion. Both teams finished the National Lacrosse League regular season with 9-7 records, but the Stealth claimed the West Division title with the victory, by virtue of its 2-1 mark against the Mammoth this year.
As the second-place team, the Mammoth will host the third-place Calgary Roughnecks (7-9) in a West Division Semifinal playoff game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Pepsi Center. San Jose will host the fourth-place Portland LumberJax (6-10) in the other semifinal.
After allowing five Stealth goals on six shots, Mammoth goaltender Gee Nash was replaced in favor of Chris Levis, who came on to stop 27-of-33 shots.
The Mammoth, trailing 5-2 after the first quarter, cut San Jose’s leads to 6-4 at halftime and 7-6 after three quarters. But the Stealth got goals from Colin Doyle, Cam Sedgwick, Gary Rosyski and Jeff Zywicki, and goaltender Anthony Cosmo stopped all eight shots he faced in the fourth quarter. Cosmo, who stopped 16-of-18 in the third quarter, finished with 48 saves on 54 shots.
Brian Langtry and Jamie Shewchuk both tallied two goals and two assists, leading the Mammoth with four points each. Captain Gavin Prout had two assists to finish the season with 67, tops in the NLL and just four shy of the league record.
Zywicki led the Stealth with three goals and Colin Doyle led all scorers with nine points on two goals and a game-high seven assists.
ASPEN — Ricky Frias and the Aspen lacrosse team gave Eaglecrest no time to catch its breath Saturday.
The senior scored three goals in the first four minutes - and finished with eight in the game - and he and running mate Charlie Olson, who picked up eight assists, led the Skiers to a convincing 17-10 victory.
“The boys came out and put their heart and hustle into the game from the first whistle,” Aspen coach Mike Goerne said. “We got the lead, and we kept it.”
Goerne admitted he didn’t know what to expect when his team lined up against the Centennial school. Early on, however, it looked like the Raptors were the ones looking unsettled.
Frias and Olson connected one minute into the game on a perfectly-executed give-and-go. The duo, in what would become a familiar sight for Eaglecrest defenders, struck again two minutes later when Olson passed off to Frias from left of the net; Frias wound up and fired a sharp grounder into the bottom corner.
Frias took matters into his own hands and stick with 8 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the first when he rifled through a host of Raptors, jumped to gain some separation and scored.
“After beating [Battle Mountain] by double digits in the snow, we didn’t expect to lose to them [Thursday],” Frias said. “After that game, we wanted to come out and prove we’re better than how we played.”
Five Goal First Quarter Ignites Rams to Showdown Victory
Denver, CO – On a brisk evening at INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium, the #7 Colorado State Rams raced out to a 5-1 lead after one quarter of play and held the #17 Colorado Buffaloes at bay for the rest of the contest, taking the 5th annual Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Showdown 8-4 on Saturday night. It was the teams’ third game at INVESCO in the series and approximately 4,800 fans were in attendance as the Rams took the third seed for the upcoming RMLC playoffs next weekend. CSU held the edge in virtually every statistical category and won the Showdown’s bronze helmet for the fifth year in a row.
After the Buffs scored the first goal of the game with 11:13 left in the first quarter, CSU rattled off five straight to end the first period, taking a commanding lead into the break. Freshman Cooper Kehoe (Robert Louis Stevenson HS; CA) scored 2 of his game-high 3 goals during the run as the Colorado State attack controlled much of the action early in the contest. The Rams also managed to win all 7 first quarter face-offs thanks to the stellar wing play of Tom Fender (Thunder Ridge HS; CO) and Mark Moskovics (Monarch HS; CO), who combined for 9 groundballs on the evening.
The teams were even in the scorebook for the remaining three quarters, but that was mostly due to the efforts of Colorado goaltender Kevin Moriarty. The junior from New Jersey had 14 stops on the night, several of which were out and out spectacular as he kept his team in the game. The Rams outshot CU 46-25 and held a 45-35 edge in groundballs, but Moriarty’s play stymied several good opportunities to push the lead further.
Moriarty was named the game MVP for the Buffaloes while Kehoe ended up with 3 goals, netting him MVP honors for CSU. Sophomore Kevin Wolff (Don Bosco Prep; NJ) finished with 1 goal and 2 assists while Ryan MacDonald (Smoky Hill HS; CO) and Paul Larson (Columbine HS; CO) each had 2 points as well. Colorado’s leading point getter was freshman James Blackburn and sophomore Tyler Snyder who each pitched in with 2 points on the evening.
Colorado State also got a very impressive performance from sophomore close defenseman Andrew Stein (Columbine HS; CO), who played extremely well on the defensive side of the field. Along with Fender and fellow sophomore Chris Rosa (Pomona HS; CO), the Rams close defensive unit was stingy and kept CU’s offense from getting into much of a flow throughout the game. Possessions were a key part of the win for the Rams, who also finished with 11 wins on 15 face-off attempts.
While the unseasonably cold weather may have kept some fans at home, a hearty crowd of 4,800 still showed up to cheer on their respective sides. CSU seemed to have the much bigger portion of the crowd for this year’s event, which was put on once again by the Colorado State Lacrosse Alumni Association. The CSULAA worked closely with INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium and Major League Lacrosse’s Denver Outlaws to ensure another first-class event that all parties enjoyed.
By virtue of the victory, Colorado State (10-5 overall; 1-2 RMLC) finishes in third place in the regular season conference standings. They will get a rematch against #18 Utah in Salt Lake City, UT next Friday in the RMLC semifinals. The Utes defeated CSU in a classic 11-10 game at the end of March that went 5 overtimes, by far the longest game in either team’s recent history. Colorado (3-6; 0-3) will face #4 Brigham Young in the other semifinal. The winner of those two games will play for the RMLC championship on Saturday evening in Utah. BYU is the reigning RMLC champion, having defeated Colorado State 12-10 in last year’s title game. The Rams last RMLC crown came in 2006.
