MLAX falls at No. 19/18 Denver, 16-8

Box Score (PDF)

DENVER – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team suffered a 18-6 defeat at No. 19/18 Denver in its regular season finale on Friday evening at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

Devon Cowan and Luke Blanc each led the Golden Eagles (4-10, 2-3 BIG EAST) with hat tricks, while Jake Stegman had a goal and two assists and Will Foster notched a game-high three helpers.

Alex Simmons and Jack Hannah had hat tricks for the Pioneers (9-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) and three players each scored twice.

Stegman scored the game's first goal before DU answered with seven goals in a row and took a 10-3 lead into halftime. The Pios scored the only two goals of the third quarter and MU managed to claw back at the start of the fourth with a 5-1 run, spurred by a pair of goals from both Blanc and Cowan.

With the loss to DU, Marquette has earned the four seed in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship and will face top-seeded and No. 2 Georgetown on May 5 at Cooper Field in Washington D.C. MU and GU will play in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Central time. DU and Villanova will square off in the first semifinal at 4:30 p.m. CT.

Notables:

Blanc's hat trick is the second of his career.
MU was 4-of-5 with the extra-man and has a program-record 26 goals on the EMO this season. The previous MU record was 23 in 2014.
MU is 2-11 all-time against the Pioneers and 1-6 all-time against DU at Peter Barton Stadium.
Cowan scored twice in each of last season's meetings with DU and now has seven goals in three career games against the Pios.
O'Grady continued his goal scoring streak to begin his career and now has 44 goals in 14 games to lead MU.
MU goalie Michael Allieri has posted at least 13 saves in all five BIG EAST games. He is the conference leader in league games in saves per contest.

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).