They were packed in on the rooftops and balconies, camping out on grass hills and peering through holes in the fence, like a matinee at Wrigley Field.
Peter Barton Stadium, sold out and overflowing inside the gates, couldn’t keep lacrosse fans outside from seeing a doozy of a game between top-five teams.
It was worth the effort.
PHOTOS:
No. 4-ranked Denver rallied from a game-long deficit, scoring the final four goals — including Zach Miller’s spin-move winner in overtime — as the Pioneers took down No. 3 Notre Dame 11-10 in a sunny thriller Saturday afternoon in front of 2,728 paying fans.
“I don’t ever get nervous before big games,” Miller said. “I always have the mind-set that the other team has to play with you as well.”
Denver (4-1) won a second game against a highly-ranked team in what Pioneers coach Bill Tierney called a “scary schedule.” The Pios, ranked No. 1 to start the season, picked off No. 3 Duke in their opener, then fell to No. 4 North Carolina last week.
Already battle-tested just at the quarter point of the season, DU stayed calm as Notre Dame (3-1) pulled away. The Fighting Irish had won five of their past six meetings against DU. And they were well on their way to another, leading 5-1 after Matt Kavanagh’s goal with three seconds left in the first quarter.
And Notre Dame led 10-7 going to the fourth. But DU faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste muscled the Pioneers back into possession (he won 16-of-23) and Miller (four goals, one assist) and Connor Cannizaro (four goals) took over down the stretch in DU’s 4-0 run.
“No panic,” Cannizzaro said. “We just knew we had to chip away at it.”
DU defenseman Christian Burgdorf shut down Kavanagh (team-high four goals) on a key late possession. And Miller’s winner — he slipped a rushing defender with an inside roll, then buried a goal from 10 yards out — was the Pioneers’ first lead since they were up 1-0.
“We couldn’t get them all back at once. There are no field goals or touchdowns in lacrosse,” Tierney said.
DU hits the road for three games in a week — against Ohio State, Lehigh and Penn State — before starting its Big East schedule.
“It’s a ridiculous task to ask guys to go 14 or 15 weeks undefeated,” Tierney said. “But we’re 2-1 against top-five teams in the country. If you’d told me that a month ago, I’d have taken it.”
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or
