PC Friars Lose to #1 Ranked Denver in Big East Tournament Lacrosse Semifinal

PC news release…

DENVER, Colo. – The Providence College men’s lacrosse team fell to top seed and No. 1 ranked Denver, 17-8, in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinal at the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver, Colo. on May 5.  Senior Nolan Fillet (Rockville, Md.) tallied a team-high three points on two goals and one assist.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 11:23 mark in the first quarter after Colton Jackson found the back of the net. Denver then extended its lead to 3-0 with goals at 6:03 and 5:01.

Providence senior Will Mazzone (Stony Brook, N.Y.) tallied his 60th point of the season at 2:09 in the first quarter to put Providence on the board. Senior Kevin Blair (Hingham, Mass.) then backed that up with a goal of his own with 12-seconds left, making it a one goal game (3-2) to close the first quarter.

The Pioneers opened the second quarter with a goal at 14:02 to extend their lead to 4-2. 

Senior Michael Perettine (Farmingdale, N.Y.) registered his first of the game off a feed from Fillet to close the gap to 4-3. Fillet kept the ball rolling and came back to tally a goal of his own at 9:33 to get the equalizer for Providence, 4-4.

Denver then responded with five unanswered goals at 6:40, 5:57, 4:44, 3:30 and 2:11 to regain and then extend its lead to 9-4 heading into the locker room at half time.

The Pioneers opened the third quarter with three unanswered goals within a three minute span to extend their lead to 12-4.

Perettine broke Denver’s eight-goal scoring streak after he found the back of the net at 7:41. Perettine was assisted on the play by freshman Joseph McHale (Bernardsville, N.J.).

The Pioneers added back-to-back goals at 6:28 and 4:56 to extend their lead to 14-5.

Mazzone tallied his second of the game with five seconds left to bring the game to 14-6 heading into the final quarter. 

Fillet came back in the fourth quarter to register his second goal of the game to close the gap to 14-7. 

Denver then netted three unanswered goals at 11:38, 9:46 and 5:07 to extend its lead to 17-7.

As the clock wound down, Mazzone recorded a hat trick with 19-seconds remaining to end the game with a final score of 17-8.
 

Freshman Tate Boyce (Matthews, N.C.) started in goal for the Friars and tallied 15 saves on the night.

All-in-all for Providence, the seniors led the way in recording nine of the Friars’ 10 points on the night. Additionally, Mazzone’s three goals moved him up to fifth all-time at Providence in career goals (including two seasons at West Point – 2013-14) with 93. He also was just one point shy of becoming Providence’s single-season point scorer (62 points).

With the loss, the Friars finished their season with a 7-9 record, including their first ever appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament.