Pioneers Advance To Big East Title Game With Victory Over Marquette
DENVER (CBS4)- The University of Denver Pioneers advanced to the Big East Conference tournament title game with a 10-7 win over Marquette on Thursday afternoon.
Junior Austin French led the Pios with five goals in the victory; three of which came in the first half.
Sophomore Ethan Walker added two goals in the win.
Denver had an 8-4 lead with 14:00 to play before Marquette scored three unanswered goals to make it an 8-7 game with 5:16 to go.
That's when Walker delivered his second goal of the day with 4:20 remaining to extend the DU lead to 9-7. French the added his 5th goal of the day with 0:39 remaining after Marquette pulled its goalie.
In addition to the victory, Thursday was a historic day for Denver face-off specialist Trevor Baptiste. Baptiste went 14-21 at the face-off x and in the process became the NCAA's all-time leader in face-off wins with his 1,118th career faceoff victory.
The victory was also a bit of revenge for DU who had lost to Marquette at the last two Big East Conference tournaments.
The Pios advance to play Georgetown in the Big East Championship game, which will be at noon on Saturday.
Michael Spencer is a Sports Anchor at CBS4. Read his bio or connect with him on Twitter @MichaelCBS4.