BALTIMORE — The Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday played with the confidence and composure of a team making its fourth consecutive NCAA Final Four appearance, and the Denver Pioneers looked like the rookies that they were.
But that’s just coincidence, DU lacrosse coach Bill Tierney said.
“If experience mattered, we would have lost two weeks ago,” Tierney said after the Cavaliers beat the Pioneers 14-8 in front of 45,039 at M&T Bank Stadium. “This team has done first after first, after first, after first. . . . We’re proud of what we’ve done.
“We just got beat by a better team today. I don’t think it has anything to do with Final Fours. They have as many young guys as we did.”
Sixth-seeded DU became the sixth consecutive “favorite” to lose in the NCAA Tournament, and No. 5 Duke became the seventh when it lost to unseeded Maryland in Saturday’s second semifinal 9-4.
Lower seeds are 7-7 in the tournament.
Baxter benched.
Senior attack Todd Baxter, one of DU’s four captains, was replaced in the second half by midfielder Eric Law, a former Arapahoe High star who finished with a team-high five points (two goals).
Baxter, who entered the game second on the team with 31 goals, failed to produce a shot.
“Eric Law was one of the few guys on his game today, and so we figured we’d give him a few more touches by bringing him in for Todd,” Tierney said.
It was a difficult move.
Baxter, who did not practice much the last two weeks after suffering a partially torn knee ligament and high ankle sprain May 7, was the team’s emotional leader. He missed the first-round victory over Villanova before returning to the lineup and scoring three goals in a quarterfinal 14-9 win over Johns Hopkins.
“But it wasn’t happening today,” Tierney said. “You have a senior who has given everything to your program. He’s won a bunch of games for us. In the Duke game, he has (four) goals, and last week against Hopkins he has three, basically playing on one leg.
“You don’t want his last experience to be (getting pulled), but you know, when we took him out, he understood.”
In the locker room, Baxter said he thought the move was “best for the team at the time.”
Footnotes.
DU committed the game’s first five penalties. Virginia was 3-of-5 with the extra man and DU 1-of-1. . . . Virginia improved to 5-1 all time against DU and has outscored the Pioneers 70-38. . . . Cavs junior attack Chris Bocklet scored three goals to give him 21 goals and six hat tricks in six NCAA Tournament starts.
