Marquette was able to stay with Denver early in their season finale, but the No. 3 ranked Pioneers proved to be too much for the Golden Eagles. After being up only one goal at the end of the first quarter, Denver pulled away en route to a 17-9 victory.
With the regular season finished, the Big East Tournament seeding is set. The No. 1 seeded Denver will take on No. 4 seed Rutgers, while No. 2 seed Marquette faces off against No. 3 seeded Villanova. The Wildcats had an opportunity to move up to the second seed, but lost this weekend to Providence in overtime. The Golden Eagles lost to Villanova earlier this season 10-8, their only other loss in Big East play.
After freshman Tyler Pace opened the scoring for Denver, Marquette responded with goals from redshirt sophomore Kyle Whitlow and redshirt senior Bryan Badolato for its first and only lead of the game. Denver finished off the quarter on a 3-1 run to take a 4-3 lead after one.
That’s when Marquette went cold, only scoring one goal in the next two quarters. After the teams traded punches to start the second quarter, sophomore Jack Bobzien and junior Wesley Berg led the way as Denver buried nine unanswered goals to put the game out of reach. The Golden Eagles made a late scoring push in the fourth, notching five goals, but it was too late.
“I said to the guys this morning in the film session I think we spooked ourselves,” coach Joe Amplo said. “Denver is good, they’re very good, and they kicked our butts all over the field on Saturday in every statistical category and certainly on the scoreboard.”
Despite Denver being one of the top programs in the country, Amplo said he doesn’t think there are any moral victories to take away from the game.
“We’re here to compete,” said Amplo. “We had a chance to compete for a championship on Saturday and we didn’t.”
Sophomore Conor Gately led Marquette in scoring with two goals and two assists. Whitlow had a hat trick, and Badolato scored two goals. The Pioneers defensive unit managed to keep Marquette’s leading scorer redshirt senior Tyler Melnyk completely off the score sheet, holding him to just one shot.
Denver’s two top scorers made their presence known, as Bobzien scored four goals and an assist for Denver and Berg scored two goals. Zach Miller and Erik Adamson each scored three goals, while Jeremy Noble had three assists.
The Golden Eagles managed to stay competitive at the faceoff circle, winning 11 of 28. Sophomore Paul Riportella went 5-for-11, while redshirt senior Cullen Cassidy went 3-for-9. Marquette did struggle with ground balls, as it only scooped up 19 in comparison with Denver’s 32.
Freshman Jimmy Danaher made six saves in the first three quarters, before being pulled in the fourth. Sophomore Matt Barone made one save in relief.
Marquette finishes the regular season with a 6-9 record and a 4-2 mark in the Big East. The Golden Eagles played two more games than last year, when the team finished with a 5-8 record as an independent.
Denver completed its undefeated Big East season with the victory, ending 12-2 overall.
Marquette’s Big East semifinal game against the hosting Villanova is Thursday at 6 p.m. Despite playing against the home team, Amplo isn’t worried about the surroundings.
“We’ll play them on Mars, I don’t care,” Amplo said. “We’re in the Big East Tournament and we get a chance here to certainly extend our season and play against a great institution for the right to play in the championship.”
After losing a close game the first time the teams played this season, Amplo said he believes the key to beating Villanova this time around is simple.
“Score more goals than them.”
