Denver trounced Notre Dame 16-4 in Saturday's NCAA tournament quarterfinals matchup.
No. 5 seed Denver men's lacrosse is heading to championship weekend for the fifth time this decade behind a dominating performance against Notre Dame in the 2017 quarterfinals. The Pioneers jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the first half and cruised to an easy 16-4 victory.
Here's a look at some of the impressive numbers from Saturday's rout:
30:33 - Time in between Notre Dame's first and second goals of the day. The Fighting Irish actually struck first with a goal just 11 seconds into the opening frame. Then the offense went silent until the final five minutes of the third quarter. At that point, Denver had built up a commanding 11-2 lead.
21 - Consecutive faceoffs won by Denver's Trevor Baptiste. The top faceoff man in the country was 21-of-22 in the circle Saturday as the Pioneers edged Notre Dame 21-to-2 on faceoffs won for the game. This was Baptiste's 16th career 20-faceoff game and his sixth in the last nine games.
In two wins over Notre Dame this season Denver's Trevor Baptiste has won 39 of 45 face-offs (87 percent) @Inside_Lacrosse
— Christian Swezey (@SwezeyLacrosse) May 20, 2017
16 - Goals scored by Denver... as well as shots attempted by Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish only attempted two combined shots in the second and third quarters. During those same middle quarters, the Pioneers found the back of the net 11 times on 25 shots.
14 - Biggest score differential of the game. Denver opened up a 16-2 lead at the 7:45 mark in the third quarter to close a 5-0 run. The Irish then scored the final two goals of the game to bring it to 16-4.
12 - The final score differential, marking the widest margin in the NCAA quarterfinals since 2006 when Virginia topped Georgetown 20-8.
FINAL: @DU_MLAX 16, @NDlacrosse 4. Baptiste won 21 straight FO. Denver as many goals (16) as Notre Dame shots. Walker 3G, 3A. DU to final 4. pic.twitter.com/PWaNaT9qsO
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 20, 2017
5 - Denver is heading to the national semifinal round for the fifth time in the past seven years. The Pioneers have reached the finals once during this stretch, when they won the 2015 national title.
4 - Double-digit scorers for Denver. Seven different Pioneers tallied goals, led by Austin French's four. Ethan Walker finished with a team-high six points on three goals and three assists. For Notre Dame, Mikey Wynne accounted for three of his team's four goals on the day.
