In a game that featured a dominating stretch for each team Saturday, the bigger of the two was used by the University of Denver for its eighth consecutive victory.
Before a regular-season finale crowd of 1,247 at Peter Barton Stadium, the fifth-ranked and NCAA Tournament- bound Pioneers scored the game’s last seven goals in an 11-5 triumph over Fairfield.
Denver (11-2, 6-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) led 4-1 early, but the Stags (7-7, 3-3) scored four consecutive goals for a 5-4 lead midway through the third quarter. Then the momentum changed like the weather, and DU began to dominate under unsettling skies.
In a span of seven seconds, DU went from a one-goal deficit to 6-5 lead. Senior attackman Todd Baxter produced both goals, beginning with a steal-and-shot sequence with 5:04 left in the third.
Immediately off the ensuing faceoff, Baxter made it 6-5.
“We’re pretty confident in this offense, and (midfielder) Chase Carraro is winning faceoffs,” DU coach Bill Tierney said. “I thought when Todd Baxter intercepted that pass and then Chase wins the next faceoff and we go down and score to switch it to 6-5, you could feel it on the bench that the guys were feeling confident again.”
Junior attack Mark Matthews made it 7-5 just 30 seconds later, and the Pioneers breezed. DU outshot Fairfield 36-12 in the second half, including 21-4 in the fourth quarter.
Matthews led DU with four goals and five points, and Baxter had three goals and four points.
Matthews upped his career point total to 138, surpassing Matt Brown (137) for the school’s Division I record.
“It’s great to beat another Canadian guy like Brownie,” Matthews, from Oshawa, Ontario, said of DU’s former star and current assistant coach. “I never really knew I was in the running, to be honest, but it’s nice. My mom will be happy, for sure.”
The Pioneers will host the inaugural ECAC Tournament this week before making their second consecutive NCAA Tournament trip. The top- seeded Pioneers will play No. 4 Ohio State on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by No. 2 Loyola against No. 3 Fairfield.
An automatic NCAA Tournament bid goes to the winner of Saturday’s championship game, but DU — which is 13-0 all time in ECAC play — will make the 16-team field regardless.
The top eight seeds will host a first-round game May 14-15, and DU figures to have a good chance at hosting if it improves to 15-0 all time in its two years in the ECAC.
Fairfield 1 2 2 0 — 5
Denver 4 0 3 4 — 11
Fairfield (goals-assists) — Greenfield 2-0, Snellman 1-0, Johnson 1-0, Plominski 1-0, Baglio 0-1.
Denver (goals-assists) — Matthews 4-1, Baxter 3-1, Flint 2-2, Carraro 1-1, Lay 1-0, Demopoulos 0-2, Law 0-1.
Shots on goal — Fairfield 33; Denver 49. Saves — Fairfield 12 (Cipriano 9; Kralovenec 3); Denver 11 (Faus 10; Orzech 1).
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
