UAlbany Thwarted by Denver in NCAA Tournament

DENVER (May 11, 2013) -- Despite a 14-point performance by the Thompson trio, the University at Albany fell to the No. 4 seed Denver, 19-14, on Saturday, May 11 at Peter Barton Stadium in front of 2,621 fans. The Great Danes finish the 2013 season 13-5, while the Pioneers improve to 13-4 and face No. 5 seed North Carolina in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

"Our team played their hearts out," said head coach Scott Marr about the game. "Credit to Denver for capitalizing on their opportunities and good luck to them next week."

UAlbany's Miles Thompson battles for control of the ball against Denver defenders. Miles finished with a goal and five assists.

UAlbany (13-5) jumped out to an early 3-1 lead with 6:07 left in the first stanza. Lyle Thompson, who was named a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy on Friday, wasted very little time, scoring two minutes and 35 seconds in. Following Denver’s Sean Cannizzaro goal, Miles Thompson set up both Mike Woods and Ty Thompson for back-to-back goals.

Denver (13-4) responded back with two goals to end the quarter and tie the game, 3-3. Wesley Berg and Eric Law each tallied their first goals of the game to equalize the contest.

Tim Cox opened up the second quarter with a top-shelf goal from eight yards out to grab the Great Danes second lead of the game, 4-3, with 12:13 left in the half.

The Pioneers’ Berg exploded with four of the team’s six second-quarter goals to grab a 9-5 lead with 1:29 remaining. Then Lyle connected with Miles before the half ended to stay within striking distance, 9-6.

Down three at the half, Cox started off the Great Dane offense in the third quarter the same way as the second with his second goal of the contest and cut the deficit to two, 9-7, with 12:18 left.

Following a Denver goal, face-off specialist Kevin Glueckert won the face-off, ran into Pioneer territory and dished it off to Lyle, who rattled off his second goal and third point of the game. With his third point of the game, Lyle moved into second in NCAA history for points in a single season with 111. His 111 points also broke the America East Conference record that was set by Delaware’s John Grant in 1999 (110).

Berg came back for the Pioneers, scoring two more goals within 30 seconds to extend the Denver lead to four, 12-8.

UAlbany’s long-stick defender Jon Newhouse caught a pass from teammate Matt Garziano from half and took the rest of the way. Then Lyle scored 50 seconds later -- from an almost impossible angle -- to close the gap to two, 12-10.

However, the Pioneers struck three more times in the final 1:55 of the half and pushed their lead to five, 15-10. Then Denver’s Cameron Flint gave his team the largest lead of the game, 16-10, with 14:10 remaining in the contest.

The Great Danes did not go away, tallying four of the next five goals and cut the deficit to three, 17-14, with 9:45 left. Derrick Eccles, Garziano and Lyle and Ty helped out in the scoring run.

But the Pioneer defense was too much, holding the Great Dane defense scoreless for the final 9:45 to move forward.

Lyle Thompson finished with four goals and an assist for a total of 113 points, the second highest single-season points total in NCAA history.

The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and top female college lacrosse player in the United States. Thomspon, the first Native American to be named a Tewaaraton Award finalist, has been invited to the May 30 award ceremony in Washington, D.C.

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