Box Score April 9, 2017 Final Stats
Denver, Colo. -
The No. 18 Villanova men's lacrosse team dropped their first road game of the season against the No. 5 Denver Pioneers by a final of 16-11.
Villanova was led by Christian Cuccinello, who had a team high four points on two goals and two assists. Jack Curran finished with a hat trick while Danny Seibel and Devin McNamara netted two of their own.
The Pioneers had a 4-1 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Colton Jackson got Denver on the board first but Devin McNamara was able to tie things up on an unassisted goal at the 8:25 mark. Denver was able to score the last three goals of the quarter, one at the four minute mark and the last two with just seconds to go.
Villanova came out hot to start the second quarter and tied the game up at four. Curran netted his first on a pass from Jared Nugent, the next two were scored by Cuccinello and Jake Froccaro both were unassisted. DU answered back with three goal of their own, each goal was scored by one member of their starting attack line. Curran was able to net one to put Villanova within two but with just 11 seconds to go Trevor Bapsiste won the faceoff, drove down, and scored. The Wildcats went into the locker room down 8-5.
Denver's Evan Walker and Connor Cannizzaro scored to start the second half and give the Pioneers their largest lead of the game. Villanova answered back with three goals. McNamara netted his second on a pass from Cuccinello, next it was Cuccinello himself who netted an unassisted goal, and Curran finished the run to put Villanova within three. The Pioneers were able to score three goals before the end of the third to make the score 13-8 with 15 minutes to go.
Both teams went back and forth with goals in the final quarter, Baptiste netted his second at the 14:46 mark and then both teams went scoreless for nine minutes. It was Seibel who ended the drought on a pass from Danny Sweeney, his first assist of the season. Baptiste would answer again winning the faceoff and running to score his third of the day, this was his first career hat trick. Seibel netted his second this time on a pass from Cuccinello with just over four to go. Denver would net the next and Connor Kirst would score the last goal of the game to make the final 16-11.
Baptiste dominated from the faceoff, he won 23-of-28 (.821) and had 17 ground balls. Overall Denver won the ground ball battle 36-29. Jake Froccaro finished with a team high five ground balls, Kurtis Naslonski scooped up three himself and added two caused turnovers.
Nick Testa played all 60 minutes in goal and finished with 10 saves, three ground balls, and a caused turnover. For Denver it was Alex Ready who got the win, he finished with 13 saves.
Next the Wildcats will travel to Georgetown to take on the Hoya on Saturday, April 15th. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. and can be seen on CBS Sports Network.
