Denison broke a 5-5 tie heading into the fourth quarter with three straight goals that would result in an 8-6 win over the Kenyon College Lords from Gambier, Ohio. The win improves the 13th ranked Big Red's record to 11-1 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. That also means Denison has clinched their 11th conference title in the 25-year history of conference.

Senior middie Dan Maude (Wayne, Pa./Haverford) scored two goals in the opening quarter and gave the Big Red a 2-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of play. Two minutes into the second quarter, sophomore Tanner Smith (Boxford, Mass./Brooks School) scored his 11th goal of the season to give DU a 3-1 advantage.

The Lords would mount a comeback late in the second quarter when Domonique McKoy kicked off a string of three Kenyon goals over the final two minutes of the first half. Geoff Akie's goal six seconds before halftime sent the Lords into the intermission with a 4-3 lead.

In the third quarter Kenyon won all four face-off attempts and controlled possession throughout much of the quarter. DU did manage to break through and tie the game at 4-4 when Emmett Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) converted an extra-man goal off an assist from Maude with just over six minutes to play in the third period. The Lords would take the lead back with three minutes to play but this time, DU would have the momentum-changing goal in the third quarter when Smith slipped one past Kenyon goalie David Page for his second goal of the game.

For the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter the score stayed deadlocked at 5-5 until senior Nate Hall (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) found Maude with his third goal of the day. Davis Lukens (Marietta, Ga./Holy Innocents') would follow a minute later with the eventual game-winner off an assist from Alex Hardt (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal). Jones would tack on an insurance goal with 2:11 to play, giving Denison an 8-5 lead.

Kenyon did outshoot Denison 38-36 but only 12 of the Lord's 38 shots were on-goal. Ted Gulyas (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Gregg Shannon (Lindenhurst, N.Y./St. Anthony's) each gathered eight ground balls to lead DU. Shannon also turned in six saves in the cage.

Denison will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to St. Vincent for a 5:00 p.m. contest. They will host No. 3 Stevenson at Deeds Field-Piper Stadium next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Live audio will be available for the Stevenson game via the Denison Sports Network.

2009-04-26