Wesley Berg led the Pioneers with six points off four goals and two assists.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Third-ranked University of Denver outscored the Providence College Friars 8-1 in the second half, leading to a 14-6 win on the road on Saturday afternoon. The win brings the Pioneers to 11-2 on the season, 5-0 in BIG EAST play, and extends their win streak to eight games.
“Providence gave us all we could handle in the first half,” said head coach Bill Tierney. “We knew it would be a tough game on the road up here and we knew they’d be motivated because it was their senior day. I thought in the second half we played really well. We shot the ball a lot better and we were able to capitalize off those shots.”
Wesley Berg led the Pioneers with six points off four goals and two assists, netting his fourth hat trick of the season. This was the ninth game this season that Berg has finished with three-or-more points. Also scoring for the Pioneers was Erik Adamson, tallying his sixth hat trick of the season off four goals and one assist for five points.
Jeremy Noble finished with four assists, tying his season-high. Jack Bobzien finished with two goals, while Zach Miller tallied one goal and an assist for two points.
Dallas Bridle and Max Planning, along with Connor Pagnani all chipped in one goal, while Tyler Pace and Jake Woodring, along with Colin Woolford helped out with an assist each.
Ryan LaPlante made six saves in the first half, allowing five goals, while Jamie Faus made three saves in the second half, allowing only one goal.
Chris Hampton won a career-high 13 face-offs and grabbed a career-high eight ground balls.
Six different Friars scored in the outing, while Andrew Barton led the way with two points. Starting goalie Tyler Himes made 10 saves.
Denver held the advantage in shots (44-22), ground balls (34-20) and face-offs won (14-of-22 to 8-of-22).
Following a Providence College goal to start the game, the Pioneers rattled off three straight goals, provided by Miller, Adamson and Pagnani. The Friars answered with two goals to end the quarter, tying the game at 3-3.
The Friars scored their third straight to open the second quarter, taking a 4-3 lead, before Berg answered with two straight to put Denver up 5-4. Providence’s Kevin Blair tied the game at 5-5 with 3:31 remaining, before Denver took a 6-5 lead with 48 seconds remaining as Bobzien and Pace teamed up.
Denver scored the first two of the third quarter off goals by Berg to take an 8-5 lead. Providence scored with 6:51 left to play making it 8-6 Denver. The Pioneers scored the next six goals to close out the game as Bobzien, Adamson, Planning and Bridle all found the back of the net.
