Friday, May 2, 2008
No. 19 Denver vs. No. 10 Ohio State, 5:30 p.m. MT
Seaholm High School Birmingham, Mich.

Game Overview
Denver earned the No. 2 in the GWLL Tournament and Ohio State received the No. 3 after the two teams split the GWLL regular season title three ways with Notre Dame. The winner of the DU-OSU semifinal will face the winner of the Notre Dame and Quinnipiac semifinal game, which will be played at 3 p.m. MT.

The Series vs. the Buckeyes
This is the 14th meeting between the two clubs and the first in postseason play. The Pioneers trail Ohio State 4-9 in the series. DU is 4-2 at home, and 0-7 in Columbus, but the two teams have never met on a neutral field. The two teams met two weeks ago with OSU winning 20-13 in front of an NCAA regular season record crowd of 29,601.

GWLL Newcomer of the Year
Freshman Jamie Lincoln (St. Cathariens, Ontario) was named the GWLL Newcomer of the Year. The attackman earned first team honors with his record-setting rookie campaign of 44 goals and 48 points. Lincoln has already set the DU Division I record for goals in a season.

GWLL Honors
Joining Lincoln on the first team was sophomore defender Dillon Roy (Denver, Colo.), who has 19 caused turnovers and leads the Pioneers with 14 penalties this season. Junior Cliff Smith (Surrey, B.C.) earned second-team honors at attack and is Denver’s second leading scorer with 24 goals and 35 points. Sophomore Ilija Gajic (Burnaby, B.C.) and junior Joey Murray (Denver, Colo.) earned all-GWLL honors for the second consecutive season, this year earning second team honors at midfield. Freshman Brendan Deblois (Narragansett, R.I.) was also named all-GWLL second team at defense.

Fourth Quarter Magic
Denver has scored 52 goals in the fourth quarter this season, 10 more goals than their next highest output at 42 in the third period. DU has allowed just 33 fourth quarter goals.

National Exposure
The Pioneers are ranked in the top-20 in five in seven of the NCAA categories. Denver is eighth in scoring offense, averaging 11.47 goals per game, win percentage (11th-66.7%), man-down defense (13th-76.7%), scoring margin (16th-1.8), and man-up offense (18-34.1%).

Individually, four pioneers are ranked in the top-50, led by Lincoln, who is fifth in the nation in goals per game (2.93) and 26th in points per game (3.20). Sophomore Ben Wahler (Denver, Colo.) ranks second nationally in ground balls per game (6.47) and 27th in face-off win percentage (53.2%). Junior Austin Konkel (Aurora, Colo.) and sophomore Charley Dickenson (Dallas, Texas) rank among the top-50, as well.

Game Winners
The Pioneers have gotten game-winning goals from six different players this season. Smith leads the team with three, while Charley Dickenson and Gajic have two apiece. Seniors Brett Koll (Fort Collins, Colo.) and Andrew Bourke (Denver, Colo.) each have one.

The Assist Goes to
Charley Dickenson is the team leader with 18 assists on the season, part of 25 points on the year. Dickenson had six assists in all of 2007. An additional trio of Pioneers have reached double figures in assists this year in Gajic (12), Murray (11) and Smith (11).

Overtime Thrillers
DU is 2-0 in overtime games this season after the 10-9 win over Harvard on March 29, when Smith recorded the game-winner with 1:03 remaining in the overtime period. Koll scored the game-winner against Penn on March 9.

Ranked Opponents
Denver is 2-4 against ranked opponents this season, defeating then-No. 16 Colgate and then-No. 7 Notre Dame, and losing to then-No. 9 North Carolina, then-No. 20 Towson, then-No. 7 Cornell and then-No. 11 Ohio State.