National Championship A Childhood Dream Come True For DU's Cannizzaro Brothers
DENVER (CBS4) - The University of Denver men's lacrosse team is still relishing their national championship win last week. Among the players are brothers Sean and Connor Cannizzaro who got to win it all together.
The brothers have been keeping very busy since the championship win. They were welcomed home by fans at the airport when they returned to Denver last Monday; a huge rally was held at DU on Tuesday; their pictures are in Sports Illustrated; and they're getting talked about a lot on ESPN.
"It's been crazy, kind of surreal. We get back and Denver holds an amazing welcome home reception for us and all of our fans come out … it's kind of been crazy," Connor said.
PHOTO GALLERY: DU Men's Lacrosse Team Wins First-Ever National Championship
"Just knowing that that many people support this team is huge for us," Sean said. "That's why we do it, we get that support every day, every game that we play. So it's just really nice to see that."
Obviously winning the national championship is special, but being the first team west of the Mississippi River to win it is truly unique. Connor said he thinks it really speaks about the growth of the game.
"How much the game has come in the last couple of years. We're the first team west of the Mississippi who has won it. That makes it exciting, but I think we're just really focused on how big of an accomplishment it for us," Connor said.
But for the Cannizzaro brothers, what's really special is that they won it together.
"It's something that we've been dreaming about together forever. So for us to do it together makes it even more special," Sean said.
"Growing up in the backyard playing lacrosse, and we've always been going down to the Final Fours, and it's just always kind of been a dream of ours ever since we picked up a stick," Connor said.
Looking ahead to next year the Pioneers will be without eight players who were seniors this year. But the Cannizzaros say they've got plenty of talent coming back, including players fans probably haven't heard about.
"We're excited for next year. We sure don't plan on going anywhere. We want to be competing for the national championship, and that's what we plan on doing," Connor said.
