The University of Denver men’s lacrosse program held Canisius scoreless on Sunday afternoon, taking a 12-0 final in front of the 17th-straight sellout at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. With the win, head coach Bill Tierney recorded his 100th victory at Denver in only 128 games, the first coach in NCAA Division-I history to reach 100 career wins in 140 career games at two different institutions.
Junior Colton McCaffrey and 2016 Tewaaraton Finalist Connor Cannizzaro both finished with four points in spearheading Denver’s (4-0) attack as McCaffrey tallied a pair of goals and assists while Cannizzaro ended with one goal and three helpers.
Junior Jeremy Bosher and freshman Danny Logan both posted two goals in the win, sophomore Austin French closed with one goal and two assists and junior faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste moved up the NCAA leaderboard behind an 11-for-14 performance from the X, along with seven ground balls, as he now sits 22nd on the career faceoff wins list in NCAA history with 642.
Sophomore Alex Ready took the win for the Pioneers, finishing with five saves and two ground balls before coming off the field after 56:26 of play.
Connor Kearnan led the Golden Griffins (1-2) with four shots, two on goal, with Ryan McKee and Steven Coss both registering three shots as Coss had a pair saved as well. Liam Ganzhorn took the loss between the pipes, making seven saves in all 60 minutes of action for the visitors.
Neither side could find much room to maneuver in the opening frame as senior Connor Flynn tallied the lone marker of the quarter on a feed from Cannizzaro at the 13:51 mark, while Baptiste went 2-for-2 in both faceoffs and Ready made a pair of saves to blank the Golden Griffins.
Denver rattled off a quintet of goals in the second quarter as French, sophomore Colton Jackson, McCaffrey, Logan and Cannizzaro all fired off successful shots while Cannizzaro took a pair of assists in the process.
DU battened down the hatches on the defensive half in the stanza as Ready made a trio of saves while the Crimson and Gold allowed only six shots in the frame to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
The Pioneers fired off 11 shots in the third quarter, prompting a pair of saves from Ganzhorn and getting a goal from McCaffrey, Bosher and freshman Ethan Walker en route to a 9-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the defensive unit refused to allow a single shot on goal from the visitors as the lone attempt from the Golden Griffins sailed wide of the net.
Denver kept a foot on the gas in the final quarter, with Bosher and Logan getting their second markers of the game, while Colin Rutan fired off his first goal of the season on a feed from McCaffrey at a man-up opportunity at the 7:05 mark, holding Canisius without a goal for DU’s first shutout in its Division-I history.
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