Ryan LaPlante (Fort Collins, Colo.) tied a career-high with 16 saves and Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario) added a season-high seven points, including five goals, to propel No. 16 Denver to a 15-9 upset victory over No. 3/4 Duke Friday night in front of a crowd of 12,282 at the Whitman's ® Sampler ® Mile High Classic at Sports Authority Field. "I'm just really proud of our kids, they really fought tonight," DU head coach Bill Tierney said. "Last Saturday we lost a tough game, but the guys showed up Monday, practiced really hard and dug deep to get a really great win against a great Duke team. I can't thank Inside Lacrosse enough for putting on such a great event. Without them, none of this is possible." The Pioneers went up 3-0 early in the first quarter on goals from Chase Carraro (Louisville, Ky.), Wes Berg (Coquitlam, British Columbia) and Matthews. After taking a 5-2 lead with 5:41 left in the second quarter, the Crimson and Gold conceded two goals in a six-second span, narrowing the margin to 5-4 with 3:51 remaining before the intermission. Duke knotted the score at 5-5 with 2:17 left in the half on an unassisted goal from David Lawson, but Alex Demopoulos'(Canton, Conn.) 15th goal of the season gave Denver a 6-5 lead heading into the break. The Pioneers wasted no time regaining the momentum in the second half, scoring four goals in the first 5:05 of the third quarter.Eric Law's (Centennial, Colo.) third goal of the game with 9:55 left in the third quarter extended the lead to 10-5.
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