Throwback Defense Behind Denver's Resurgent Season

Denver is getting it done with defense as Matt Brown’s first season as the program’s head coach approaches tournament time.

The Pioneers (11-2, 5-0 Big East) have clinched the top seed in this week’s conference tournament. The most obvious reason is a seasoned defensive unit that has allowed 35 goals in conference play after ousting Marquette 15-9 in the regular-season finale.

“It’s the same thing as it is at the offensive end — when you hit your stride, you kind of hit your stride, and it builds confidence,” Brown said. “It’s something we’ve stressed from the beginning of the year. It doesn’t matter how; it matters that you get it done.”

Brown was announced as Denver’s head coach even before longtime coach Bill Tierney’s final season before his college retirement was complete. The transition figured to be seamless, the baton passed from one of the most creative defensive minds the sport has seen to the architect of an offense that helped the Pioneers win the 2015 national title and become a postseason regular.

But more than a program was bequeathed to Brown. He still had a lot of older players, and he retained defensive coordinator John Gallant.

That continuity has paid off, particularly in the second half of the season. Jack DiBenedetto has started all 66 games since he arrived at Denver, while fellow graduate student Adam Hangland has started 64 games. Junior Jimmy Freehill is a relative pup — a mere 33 starts, including every game the last two years — and has a team-high 19 caused turnovers. And long pole AJ Mercurio is a fifth-year player who has two first-team all-Big East selections to his credit.

Brown thinks things clicked into place when the Pioneers came off a 15-13 loss to Yale, traveled to Ohio State and limited the Buckeyes to six goals. Denver then held Duke to seven goals in the first 55 minutes before the Blue Devils pulled away for an 11-7 victory.

And in Big East play, the Pioneers have won games 9-6 (at Villanova) and 7-4 (at Providence) — throwback numbers to the pre-shot clock era.

“What we’ve stressed this year is you have to cover everyone,” Brown said. “When you have the mindset of, ‘You have to cover everyone,’ you’re not worried about your matchups as much, therefore you don’t panic if there’s a switch that happens. Therefore, you don’t panic if somebody is on the ball. Once you start panicking, you get out of sorts and there’s just too many moving pieces. I think they all have their own unique strengths to them, but collectively is their greatest strength with how they play. The fact they all help and support each other. That’s been really a key for our success.”

There are other elements contributing to Denver’s penchant for smothering opponents. Faceoff man Alec Stathakis has tilted the field by winning 61.4 percent of his draws. Goalie Malcolm Kleban (.517 save percentage) has done solid work as the defense’s backstop. And because the Pioneers are so precise, it leads to longer possessions for opponents.

One of this group’s most impressive feats is its discipline to avoid penalties but perform well in the rare cases it does commit them. The Pioneers lead the country in man-down defense, killing penalties 82.1 percent of the time. But their 28 man-down chances are tied for the second fewest in Division I.

“You want to have this balance of being aggressive and having friction and being on guys’ hands, not sitting back, but you have to be in control, too,” Brown said. “I think some guys think that being aggressive means you have to be reckless, and that’s not the case. You can be aggressive but also in control at the same time.”

Brown believes Gallant has done excellent work running the defense, particularly in the way he has optimized the group’s communication. That’s also part of why he still sees room for growth for a group that has steadily improved throughout the season.

That goes for the rest of the Pioneers, who are on the verge of returning to the NCAA tournament after a two-year absence.

“I think with our team we have shown we can win lacrosse games in a variety of different ways, and we’re going to have to continue to do that,” Brown said. “I can guarantee you there’s going to be a game where we’re going to have to put 13 or more on the board to get it done here in the future.”