The top-ranked University of Denver men’s lacrosse team lost 12-10 to No. 4 North Carolina on Friday at Navy Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Sophomore Connor Cannizzaro led the Pioneers with four points on two goals and two assists. Freshman Brendan Bomberry had two goals to go along with an assist on one of Cannizzaro’s goals, and senior Tewaaraton Award nominee Wesley Berg recorded his second hat trick in as many games with three goals.
Senior goaltender Ryan LaPlante made nine saves.
Denver split its five first-half goals among five different goal scorers. Cannizzaro and Zach Miller had the only two assists in the first half. Sophomore attack Tyler Pace opened the scoring with 12:47 to play in the first quarter. The game saw a 8:24 drought in scoring before North Carolina tied it up at one apiece on a man-up goal. Berg closed out the first-quarter scoring with a bullet from 10 yards out to make it 2-1 at the end of one.
The Pioneers were forced to play a man down for the first three minutes of the second quarter, but LaPlante came up with two saves during the EMO, and Denver killed off the penalty. Cannizzaro played a role in the next two goals of the game to keep Denver’s momentum going, scoring his 11th of the year with 11:35 to play before the intermission, and assisting Bomberry’s third collegiate goal.
North Carolina responded with two consecutive goals inside three minutes of each other before Miller closed out the first half scoring with his third of the season with 4:09 to play.
After a Berg goal to start the third, North Carolina responded with five goals in under three minutes to take an 8-6 lead with 9:36 to play in the third quarter. Senior Sean Cannizzaro stopped the 5-0 run, but North Carolina got one more to make it 9-7 at the end of three.
Berg completed his second hat trick of the campaign with 13:45 to play, but North Carolina had a response again as Peyton Klawinski picked up a groundball off his own blocked shot to give UNC a 10-8 lead.
Connor Cannizzaro and Bomberry exchanged goals and assists with each other to cut the deficit to one following a North Carolina goal that made it 11-8. North Carolina won the faceoff after Connor Cannizzaro’s goal and after a timeout scored an empty-net goal off a DU 10-man ride to make it 12-10.
DU will return home to take on Notre Dame at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m.
