Brady Burton (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) scored eight goals, with four coming in a pivotal second quarter as the Denison Big Red defeated Ohio Wesleyan 16-12 on Saturday at Deeds Field-Piper Stadium. The victory clinches the outright North Coast Athletic Conference championship and runs Denison's winning streak to 10 games. That is the most consecutive wins by a Big Red team since 1985 and two shy of the school record for consecutive wins, set in 1982.

Ohio Wesleyan got off to a fast start, countering Teddy Epstein's (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) goal off the opening face-off, as Rob Young scored 1:25 into the game and The Bishops would rattle off three more to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.

With 11:48 to play in the second, Burton netted his second goal of the day off a pass from Dan Maude (Wayne, Pa./Haverford). After the ensuing face-off the Bishops' Craig Aronoff would be flagged for a illegal body check, putting DU in extra-man where Emmett Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) would connect with Tanner Smith (Boxford, Mass./Brooks School), tying the game at 4-4. After the goal, two more penalties kept Denison in man-up offense. In an almost exact replay of the goal scored 1:50 earlier, Jones hit Smith in the same spot for the go-ahead goal. Following the goal, the Bishops would be flagged for the fourth time in two and a half minutes and DU would score again, this time off a Rick Mackessy (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) to Burton play. In all, DU rattled off three consecutive extra-man goals which would help them go on a 7-0 run in the second quarter.

With a 9-4 lead at the half, DU managed to keep Ohio Wesleyan within an arms length the rest of the way. With 13:39 left in the fourth quarter, Steve Fowler cut the lead to three at 12-0 but Mackessy and the Big Red responded with an unassisted goal with 9:42 to play. The final nail would be driven home off the crosse of Burton who capped off an outstanding day with his career-best, eighth goal.

As they have done all season, the Big Red dominated the face-off circle, winning 21-of-31, including 5-of-7 in the pivotal second quarter. Conner Detjen (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) had a busy afternoon. The ninth-ranked face-off man in D-III heading into the contest improved his percentage to .675 by going 17-for-24. He also picked up 12 ground balls, which was a season high. In all, Denison picked up 40 ground balls to Ohio Wesleyan's 18.

Alex Baruch (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) posted 14 saves highlighted by a five-save first quarter which kept Ohio Wesleyan's early advantage at a minimum. The Bishops split time in goal between Ryan Perone and Jud Hall. Perone posted five saves in the first half and Hall stopped four would-be goals in the second half.

Overall, 14 penalties were called and the two teams each posted four extra-man goals. OWU was led in scoring by Nick Gallagher's five goals and one assist. Harrison Iuliano posted two goals and assisted on two others.

Denison improves to 13-2 and will await announcement from the NCAA Tournament selection committee on Sunday evening. The selection show will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. CBS College Sports Network is available on cable systems across the country and it can be found on Dish Network (channel 152) and DirecTV (channel 610).

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan.......  4  0  3  5 - 12
Denison.............  2  7  3  4 - 16
 
Attendance: 1,050
 
Ohio Wesleyan SCORING:
GOALS: Nick Gallagher 5; Harrison Iuliano 2; Rob Young 2; Steve Fowler 1;
       Craig Aronoff 1; Kevin McMahon 1.
ASSISTS: Chris Eccles 2; Harrison Iuliano 2; Dylan Brown 1; Chris Ehlinger 1;
         Steve Fowler 1; Nick Gallagher 1; Robb Shrader 1.
 
Denison SCORING:
GOALS: Brady Burton 8; Rick Mackessy 2; Dan Maude 2; Tanner Smith 2;
       Emmett Jones 1; Teddy Epstein 1.
ASSISTS: Emmett Jones 2; Rick Mackessy 2; Brady Burton 1; Nate Hall 1;
         Dan Maude 1; Tanner Smith 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan....... 10  4  9 13 - 36
Denison.............  9 12  7 10 - 38
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan.......  7  5  4  2 - 18
Denison.............  8 10  9 13 - 40
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan.......  2-7   2-7   3-7   3-10 - 10-31
Denison.............  5-7   5-7   4-7   7-10 - 21-31
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan.......  4-5   3-5   3-6   7-8  - 17-24
Denison.............  3-5   3-3   3-6   4-4  - 13-18
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan.......  1-2   0-0   1-1   2-2  -  4-5
Denison.............  0-0   3-4   0-2   1-3  -  4-9
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Ohio Wesleyan.......  3  2  3  1 -  9
Denison.............  5  2  4  3 - 14
 
PENALTIES - Ohio Wesleyan 9/8:30; Denison 5/4:00.

2008-05-03