Denver and Marquette, both undefeated in Big East Conference play at the time, met last Saturday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium with the league’s regular-season championship on the line. The Pioneers won 14-11 and this week remained ranked No. 1 in the nation in both major polls.
The Pioneers (13-1) and Golden Eagles (10-4) will face each other once more Saturday at 2:30 p.m., again on the DU campus, to decide the Big East Tournament championship.
That’s the prelude to Sunday night’s NCAA Tournament selection show, with both certain to be in the 18-team field that includes a 16-team bracket and two play-in games. It’s more significant for Marquette, because its program is in only its fourth season.
Thursday in the Big East Tournament semifinals, DU beat Providence 17-8 and Marquette got by Villanova 14-9.
“Us 19 seniors kind of built this thing from the ground up,” Marquette attackman Conor Gately said after his team advanced. “To have the opportunity to go out there and really cement it is really special.”
Marquette hired coach Joe Amplo, a former associate head coach at Hofstra, in February 2011 and began play in 2013.
“We’ve worked through every challenge and now we have the opportunity to play for a championship,” Amplo said Thursday. He added, “There’s no obstacle that these men are afraid to tackle, and if they get pushed down, they’ll fight right back up.”
DU coach Bill Tierney was able to rest his regulars in the fourth quarter against Providence.
“It’s only a day,” he said of the break between games. “It’s kind of like the Final Four where we have to do a week of practice (Friday) in an hour, but we played this team last week, so it’s not like it’s somebody we’ve never played or somebody that we played back in February. … Coach Amplo’s going to have that group ready. We were up 12-6 going into the fourth quarter against Marquette the other day, and they made it a game from that point on, so we know what we’re in for.
“It is good to rest guys. I think even if somebody could monitor what the difference is if they played the fourth or not, it’s probably minuscule, but in their minds it’s a lot. And they love watching the other guys get in, and that’s really important.”
DU junior attackman Connor Cannizzaro had four goals and an assist against Providence.
“We obviously know them,” he said of Marquette. “We played them last week, so we’re going to come out well prepared and know what they do. They’re a good team. They’re going to play us tough, and we’re ready for Saturday and ready for the challenge.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei
