Lacrosse falls, 9-8, to No. 12/14 Denver

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team fell in its regular season finale, 9-8, to the No. 12/14 Denver on Friday evening at Valley Fields.

The Golden Eagles, who finish the regular season 2-3 in league action, still have an outside shot at earning a berth in the 2019 BIG EAST Tournament, pending the results of Saturday's matchups of Villanova against Providence and St. John's against Georgetown.

MU would get the four seed and a semifinal berth with Providence and St. john's wins. In that scenario Marquette and Georgetown would tie at 2-3 and the Golden Eagles own the tiebreaker virtue of MU's 9-8 win on March 23.

Marquette (6-8, 2-3 BIG EAST) scored the first three goals against the Pios on Friday and took a 5-1 lead late in the first quarter on Griffin Fleming's first score.

Denver then launched on a 7-1 run of its own to take an 8-6 edge with 11:41 remaining in the third quarter. Bob Pelton and Peter Henkhaus scored within 40 seconds of each other late in the period to pull the game back into a tie before Ted Sullivan's game winner with 2:10 left in the third.

Marquette held a 12-6 advantage in shots in the fourth quarter, but the squads played to a scoreless final 15 minutes. The frame also did not feature a face-off as Denver began the fourth on an extra-man opportunity and there were no goals scored.

Ryan Fazio and Fleming led MU with a pair of goals, while John Wagner scored once and added a pair of assists.

Senior long-stick midfielder Noah Richard, coming off a recent selection in the PLL Collegiate Draft, recorded game highs of 10 ground balls and four caused turnovers. That ground ball total is the most ever for a non-faceoff specialist in program history.

Ted Sullivan, Ethan Walker and Austin French each recorded two goals to lead the Pioneers (9-4, 4-1 BIG EAST) who have clinched at least a share of the BIG EAST regular season crown.

Keep up with the Marquette men's lacrosse program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteMLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteMLax) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteMLax).