Strong Finish Gives No. 15 Denver 11-5 Win Over Butler

April 23, 2006

Box Score

Behind a strong second-half effort, No. 15 Denver was able to pull away from a feisty Butler squad for an 11-5 win at the Butler Bowl in Indianapolis Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Cliff Smith led the Butler effort with three goals. The team's eight seniors were recognized in a pre-game ceremony, as the Bulldogs concluded their home schedule Sunday. With the win, the Pioneers improve to 11-4 and stay perfect in Great Western Lacrosse League play at 4-0. Butler falls to 4-9 (1-3).

With Denver leading 6-5 in the closing minutes of the third period, the Pioneers' Billy McKinney was called for an illegal body check, which sent the senior to the penalty area for a minute. With Butler looking to tie things up, Denver's Jon Paulson instead scored back-to-back man-down goals to extend DU's lead to 8-5.

Butler got on the board first with an extra-man score from Ben Sultze at the 7:05 mark of the first period. Senior Doug Mathias beat Denver netminder Jeb Hollingsworth high at the 1:39 mark to give Butler a 2-0 lead. The Pioneers responded with three goals in the first 2:32 of the second period to take their first lead of the game. Smith then countered with his first goal of the game with 10:25 to play in the second period to knot things at three.

Smith went to work again less than two minutes later, collecting a ground ball near midfield and taking it all the way to beat Hollingsworth one-on-one for a 4-3 Butler advantage. Ryan Zordani scored twice, sandwiched around halftime, as Denver took a 5-4 lead. Again, Smith answered for Butler, ripping a shot from seven yards out for a man-up goal with 5:52 to play in the third period. Zordani gave Denver the 6-5 lead before the man-down goals turned the tides.

Denver held Butler scoreless over the last 20:52 of the game and out-scored the home team, 7-1, in the second half.

In addition to Smith's three goals, Sultze had a goal and an assist. Mathias tallied a score, while freshman Jeremy Sieverts was credited with an assist. Freshman Kyle Harer took the loss in net. He made 13 saves. Senior Steve Forsythe had a team-leading six ground balls.

Denver out-shot Butler, 38-23, and held a 42-30 advantage in ground balls. Zordani and Paulson each had three goals for the Pioneers with Zordani adding an assist. Hollingsworth got the win for Denver, making nine saves. Denver went 14-of-20 on face-offs.

Seniors Mathias, Forsythe, Gary Gambarani, Phil Brauch, Danny Harper, Ryan Carter, Chase Cannon and Dan McLoughlin were recognized on the field prior to face-off.

The Bulldogs close out the 2006 campaign Saturday, traveling to Connecticut to face first-year GWLL foe Quinnipiac. Face-off is set for 1 p.m.