Possession is perhaps the most important aspect of elite-level lacrosse. A team can have the best shooters and the best offensive playmakers. But, if it can’t win faceoff battles and outscoop the opponent in groundballs, attack time is limited and defensive personnel tend to tire.
Thanks to sophomore Chase Carraro, the No. 5-ranked University of Denver has had no problem establishing continuous pressure at the offensive end. The versatile midfielder from Louisville, Ky., leads the red-hot Pioneers in faceoffs won (173), faceoff percentage (60.1), and groundballs per game (6.15), and is among the top 15 nationally in all three categories.
He is one of the many reasons DU (11-2) is on an eight-game winning streak and appears to be peaking heading into the postseason.
“Once we start going on runs where we score a goal, win a faceoff, score a goal, win a faceoff, and we keep having possession, it really hypes me up and that’s how we’ve buried some teams,” said Carraro. “We’ve gone on some three- or four-goal runs where we keep winning faceoffs. When I’m having a good day at the faceoff X, the other team feels like they never have the ball.”
Postseason play begins tonight for DU, as it hosts Ohio State in the semifinals of the inaugural ECAC Tournament.
“He’s such a dynamic athlete,” DU coach Bill Tierney said of the 5-foot-8, 170-pound Carraro, who was a standout football player at Louisville’s St. Xavier High School. “Through his own hard work last summer he came back as a dynamic athlete who is now a dynamic player.”
Carraro is somewhat of a unusual faceoff man because he’s also a top-line, short-stick midfielder, ranking fifth on the team in goals (15) and third in shots (63). Most elite-level teams use a utility player or long-stick defenseman for faceoffs.
Last year, DU’s most successful faceoff man was senior defender Dillon Roy. In specialized faceoff situations, substitutions are made immediately after possession is gained.
“We call them FOGO — ‘Face Off, Get-Off’ guy that most teams have now,” Tierney said. “But with Chase, they have to stay on and defend him if we win the faceoff, and that gives us a whole added dimension to our offense . . . . I’m stunned how great he has been at both, especially down the stretch. His quickness is ridiculous.”
Carraro, who said he has three moves on faceoffs, including the standard “pinch and pop” that he uses 80 percent of the time, plays on a line with freshman Jeremy Noble and sophomore Cameron Flint on the wings.
“It helps that I have two of the best wing guys in the country in Cam Flint and Jeremy Noble, two Canadian guys who are vacuums,” Carraro said. “They can scoop anything off the ground, because of their past in playing indoor and scooping groundballs in tight spaces.”
DU’s top three midfielders are among the major success stories of Tierney’s first recruiting class.
The Hall of Fame coach has not only taught DU how to win, but has convinced the Pios they are Final Four material. The Pioneers will qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year and, if they go 2-0 to win the ECAC Tournament, they have a good chance of hosting an NCAA Tournament first-round game.
“Last year we didn’t have a great sense of who we were, because it was a new year, under a new coach,” Carraro said. “This year, we knew how good we could be and we have a better identity of who we are, and that’s important in tough situations.
“We’ve handled everybody we’re supposed to beat, and at this point we believe we can beat anybody.”
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
ECAC lacrosse tournament
At DU’s Peter Barton Stadium
TODAY
4 p.m. No. 2 Loyola, Md. (8-4, 4-2) vs. No. 3 Fairfield (7-7, 3-3)
7 p.m. No. 1 Denver (11-2, 6-0) vs. No. 4 Ohio State (8-7, 3-3)
SATURDAY
11 a.m. Championship, ESPNU
Tickets
Three-game packages are $20 (adults) and $15 (children 12-under). Individual game tickets also available by visiting the Ritchie Center box office or
