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DU Lacrosse Coach Bill Tierney Eager To Get Pioneers A National Championship

DENVER (CBS4) - University of Denver's Bill Tierney has six lacrosse national championships to his credit, but the one he wants most is as head coach of the Pioneers.

"That's the key. It's not about me anymore, it's about these kids and our university that's been so supportive of us," Tierney said on Xfinity Monday Live. "When we came out here six years ago now, they asked me what I needed to do it. They've given me everything we need. We've got a beautiful Peter Barton Stadium, a great school, and I'm just dying for these young men to feel that accomplishment."

DU with a 6-2 record is currently ranked fifth in the nation after beginning the season at No. 1. Tierney said his players have handled the slide in ranking well since the beginning of the season.

"I thought the kids did a great job, they really did … each of our years here we've had a different positive accomplishment and being preseason No. 1 was something that we didn't back off to, we didn't make excuses about, we cherished," Tierney said. "And then we played a really good North Carolina team and lost that ranking."

But he said Denver has been recognized for beating two Top 5 teams in Duke and Notre Dame.

"But it's really not about one, it's about staying in that Top 8 so that you can get a home game in the first round of the playoffs."

Bill Tierney
DU lacrosse coach Bill Tierney on Xfinity Monday Live with CBS4's Mark Haas in March (credit: CBS)

The Pioneers now head into conference play against Big East action. Their next game is at home against Georgetown this Saturday. Tierney says conference play will be tougher this year after the Pioneers were undefeated in the conference last year.

"Georgetown is a team … that's been very young the last two years, and now those guys are juniors and seniors with more good recruits. Last week they knocked off Loyola and they knocked off undefeated Marquette. So we know we've got our hands full this week," Tierney said. "The league has kind of been a great surprise this year. Everybody thought we'd be coasting through it like we did last year, but it's going to be a challenge every week."

Stadium seats are already sold out for Saturday's game.

Watch more of the video with Bill Tierney in the Xfinity Monday Live! section.

- By Matthew J. Buettner, CBSDenver.com

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