The Denver Pioneers were unable to upset new No. 1 Loyola, falling 12-9 in front of a sold out home crowd at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. The loss drops the Pioneers to fourth in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference with only the April 21 matchup with Fairfield remaining in conference play.
Denver's offense was led by sophomore midfielder Jeremy Noble, with three goals, and senior Alex Demopoulos with two. Junior Chase Carraro dominated the face-off circle, winning 21-of-25 face-offs for Denver and grabbing 14 ground balls.
With the loss, Denver dropped from No. 8 to No. 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll and fell from No. 10 to No. 12 in the Nike Media Poll.
The biggest news nationally was Loyola's win over Denver and Virginia's loss to the Duke Blue Devils, allowing the Greyhounds to take over the No. 1 spot in both polls. DU takes on the Blue Devils at Mile High Stadium in two weeks. Previous No. 3/3 Johns Hopkins fell to Maryland and slipped to No. 7/6.
The Pioneers now get ready for their last ECAC match before the conference tournament when they hit road to take on No. 17/17 Fairfield on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Nike | Coaches | Team |
1 | 1 | Loyola |
2 | 2 | UMASS |
3 | 3 | Cornell |
4 | 5 | Notre Dame |
5 | 7 | Duke |
6 | 4 | Virginia |
7 | 6 | Johns Hopkins |
8 | 8 | Maryland |
9 | 9 | UNC |
10 | 12 | Lehigh |
11 | 13 | Colgate |
12 | 10 | Denver |
13 | 14 | Princeton |
14 | 15 | Syracuse |
15 | 11 | Villanova |
16 | 16 | Penn State |
17 | 17 | Fairfield |
18 | 18 | Bucknell |
19 | 19 | Bryant |
20 | NR | Army |
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