In their second matchup of the season with the Denver Pioneers (8-2, 6-0 BIG EAST), the Marquette Golden Eagles (1-6, 0-5 BIG EAST) fell apart late and lost 16-6 on the road.
Sean Richard had a tough day in net for the Golden Eagles, as the redshirt first-year would save just over half the shots he faced, with a 51.7% save percentage. With 2:57 remaining in the game, head coach Andrew Stimmel had seen enough, called a timeout and pulled Richard and put in redshirt junior Gabe Stein to finish the remainder of the game. Stein gave up two goals within the final three minutes of the contest.
The game started out slow for both teams, as Richard and Denver sophomore goalie Jack Thompson kept the game close after one half. The Pioneers led 6-3 at halftime.
As the second half began, Denver pulled away and shut out the Golden Eagles in the third and held them to just two goals in the final quarter. The Pioneers scored 10 goals in the final two quarters to win by double digits in what was their seventh straight victory.
As always, the Golden Eagles had solid play from redshirt first-year Devon Cowan, who led the team in points with two goals and one assist. First year attackman Russell Melendez and graduate student Peter Henkhaus both contributed two points for Marquette this afternoon in Denver.
Faceoffs continued to be an issue for Marquette as they would win a measly six of 25 in Saturday’s contest. Additionally, Marquette shot the ball 37 times, but only had 14 shots on goal.
Denver senior midfielder Jack Hannah put on another show for the Pioneers today as he scored his 21st, 22nd and 23rd goals of the season with a hat trick. Sophomore attackman JJ Sillstrop also had a hat trick, posting his fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the season.
Marquette now gets ready to face No. 10 Georgetown (7-1, 6-1 BIG EAST) April 10 back in Milwaukee. The game will be streamed on gomarquette.com.
This story was written by Jack Lewandowski. He can be reached at jack.lewandowski@marquette,edu or on Twitter @JackLewMU.
