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Denver vs Drexel Mens Lacrosse May 18, 2014 NCAA quarterfinal Photo Credit: Tommy Gilligan big east
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Inside Look: Denver Blasts Past Drexel in Quarter-Final, 15-6

Photo Credit: Tommy Gilligan Photography

This past Sunday the Denver University Pioneers blew the doors of the Drexel Dragons, 15-6 in Delaware Stadium, Newark, DE.

Other than the first faceoff, the whole game appeared to be in Denver’s favor. Having one of the top FOGOs in the country in Nick Saputo, he was sitting at the 4th best faceoff % in the country, it was no wonder the Dragons won the first draw. Ultimately the first possession was one of the biggest highlights for Drexel with it resulting in the first goal of the game being scored by Ben McIntosh.

The crowd was heavily in favor of the Dragons, as Drexel is around forty-odd miles from Philadelphia. The cheers for the Dragons were loud and proud but the 11th man wasn’t enough in this quarter-final match.

Denver vs Drexel NCAA Quarterfinal GIF

Drexel’s season was ended at 13-5, the best in school history as the Pioneers move to a clean 16-2 after winning 13 straight games.

Middie Erik Adamson scored on 6 of his 7 shots which was a big part of Denver’s 15 goals, which the team scored on 32 shots. Zach Miller and Harrison Archer also had good games with 2 goals a piece.

Drexel produced 28 shots, but it didn’t seem to be enough in this one. McIntosh and Trizano both scored 2 goals a piece for the Dragons but the split time in cage for the Pioneers proved successful. Both Denver goalies let 3 goals slip past them, Faus collected 8 saves but LaPlante got the W.

The faceoffs were highly in favor of Denver, which was surprising for how well Saputo did this season. Violations got Saputo off his game early and it seemed that he just couldn’t bounce back. A major difference was the groundball battle, Denver sucked up a combined 41 while the Dragons only scooped 21. The Dragons just couldn’t get the possession time they needed all game long.

The #5 Denver Pioneers square off against the powerful #1 Duke Blue Devils at 1pm est. next Saturday, May 24th on ESPN 2.