Archive for May 4th, 2008

Pioneer to Face Terps in NCAA Tournament

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Colorado Lacrosse
on May 4, 2008
in Men and College
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DU men’s lacrosse advances to first tournament since 2006

DENVER – The No. 19 University of Denver men’s lacrosse team was selected to the 2008 NCAA Tournament to face No. 7-seeded Maryland at Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium on Saturday, May 10 at 10 a.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.

“We had three quality during the season that propelled us into the postseason,” associated head coach Jon Torpey. “We didn’t play as well as we wanted in the GWLL tournament but during the regular season we played a hard scheduled. Those wins carried us through and we are headed back to the tournament.”

DU (10-6) is making its second NCAA Tournament, its first since 2006, when it fell to No. 6-seeded Maryland, 16-8. Maryland has made 31 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Denver earned an at-large bid to the 2008 tournament, despite losing to Ohio State in the semifinals of the Great Western Lacrosse League tournament. DU shared the regular season GWLL title with Ohio State and Notre Dame, both of whom made the tournament.

The Terps (9-5) were awarded one of nine at-large bids to the tournament and are coming off of a 16-10 win over Yale on Saturday.
Tickets for the Maryland-Denver game can be purchased through the Maryland Ticket Office at 1-800-462-TERP (1-800-462-8377). Tickets prices are $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for students and seniors.

The winner of the Maryland/Denver game will meet the winner of the Virginia/UMBC first round game in the quarterfinals most likely on Saturday, May 17, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.

Tournament Breakdown:
No. 1 Duke (ACC) vs. Loyola (ECAC AQ) - May 10, 2:30 p.m.
No. 8 Cornell (Ivy AQ) vs. Ohio State (GWLL) - May 10, 5 p.m.

No. 5 Johns Hopkins (Independent) vs. Hofstra (CAA AQ) - May 11, 2:30 p.m.
No. 4 North Carolina (ACC) vs. Navy (Patriot) - May 10, 7:30 p.m.

No. 3 Syracuse (Independent) vs. Canisius (MAAC AQ) - May 11, 7:30 p.m.
No. 6 Notre Dame vs. Colgate (Patriot AQ) - May 11, Noon

No. 7 Maryland (ACC) vs. Denver (GWLL) - May 10, Noon
No. 2 Virginia (ACC) vs. UMBC (America East AQ) - May 11, 5 p.m.

Tournament Teams By Conference:
ACC (4): Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia
America East (1): UMBC (AQ)
CAA (1): Hofstra (AQ)
ECAC (1): Loyola (AQ)
Ivy (1): Cornell (AQ)
Patriot League (2): Colgate (AQ), Navy
Great Western Lacrosse League (3): Notre Dame (AQ), Denver, Ohio State
Independent (2): Johns Hopkins, Syracuse
MAAC (1): Canisius (AQ)

LATE BURST ROLLS ROUGHNECKS PAST MAMMOTH

Published
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Colorado Lacrosse
on May 4, 2008
in Men and Professional
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Like two heavyweights in the ring, the Colorado Mammoth and Calgary Roughnecks exchanged blows for 60 playoff minutes on Saturday night. The Mammoth punched hard, taking a two-goal lead with eight minutes remaining. Then the Roughnecks counterpunched.

In a game that had seven ties and four lead changes, the Roughnecks rode the last swing of momentum to a 15-13 victory in front of a stunned crowd of 15,554 at Pepsi Center.

The victory sends the Roughnecks to the West Division Final next weekend, while the loss ends the Mammoth’s sixth National Lacrosse League season.

Trailing 12-10, Calgary exploded for five goals by five different players late in the game to win the single-elimination playoff game. A Mammoth goal by Nenad Gajic with one second remaining did little to soothe the sting of losing a postseason game on its home floor for the second year in a row.

“We battled hard and put ourselves in a position to win,” said Mammoth coach Bob McMahon, who guided the team to a 9-7 regular-season record in his first year behind the bench. “We just couldn’t close them out when we had the chance.”

Jamie Shewchuk led the Mammoth with seven points on two goals and five assists, stepping up offensively in place of Dan Carey, who missed his sixth consecutive game because of a concussion. Eight others scored goals for the Mammoth, including two each by Jason Wulder, Chris Gill and Gavin Prout.

Jeff Shattler and Kaleb Toth each scored three goals for the Roughnecks while Tracey Kelusky added two goals and five assists.

Gee Nash took the loss in goal for the Mammoth, stopping 37-of-51 shots. The Roughnecks last goal was scored on an empty net. Steve Dietrich earned the victory in goal for Calgary, making 29 saves on 42 shots.

Shattler scored early in the third quarter to give Calgary a 7-5 lead, but the Mammoth responded to tie the game on two blistering outside shots by Prout. Jordan Cornfield then scored with a perfect shot over Dietrich’s shoulder to give the Mammoth an 8-7 lead.

After a three-goal run by the Roughnecks tied the score at 4-4, Shewchuk scored to end a 13-minute goalless drought for the Mammoth. The 5-4 lead lasted less than two minutes though, and the Roughnecks scored twice to take a 6-5 halftime lead.

The Mammoth scored four consecutive goals to take a 4-1 lead into the second quarter.