This game is easily is Denver’s hands for the taking. Tomorrow at 1:30 MST in Peter Barton Stadium, the Pioneers host Air Force in the second match of the Frontier Airlanes Face-off Classic. Air Force is 0-2 starting the season with a vicious schedule; Denver is 1-0 after topping Duke 17-13. Denver’s season was closed in 2014 by Duke and opened in 2015 with their defeat.
Denver has all the advantages in this game:
-15-1 in home openers since 1999
-Ranked #1 across the board for the 2015 season
-Their roster has evolved over four years into one of the best in the nation
-Multiple players are on hot streaks, some still from 2014
-Pioneers have a mission to fulfill, and won’t stop until they’ve succeeded
Air Force is quality lacrosse as well. They seem to struggle in depth of their rosters. The talent is apparent from games like their opener at Duke. An away game, early in the morning for Air Force players (8am their time) and the Falcons came out rumbling. They were in the lead for a short while before Duke found a way to kick it into gear.
Jack Bobzien and Erik Adamson lead the Pioneers with six and four goals respectively. Denver’s high-powered offense seems to operate on a control-possession pace this season, yet fully capable of launching an offensive assault at any second. For the first time since the 2014 regular season, you can see the Denver players on mental queue with each other and mentally ahead of the opponent, and are finding the right opportunities.
The Falcons are motored by Chris Walsch with six goals on the 2015 season. Unfortunately, his personal efforts are short-changed by the Air Force offense as a whole, because the Falcons are barely breaking a shot percentage of .176, compared to Denver’s offensive onslaught of .378.
In this particular match up, statistics point towards Denver opening havoc on the Air Force defense. However, I don’t see Tierney doing that to his players. For one, Tierney has integrity. Secondly and more importantly, he’s a coaching genius and wouldn’t want his players to push that hard and run themselves down. Tierney is smart and enters every game like it’s THE game to win. However, if statistics prove worthy and Denver starts to overrun Doug Gouchoe in cage for Air Force, expect Tierney to pump the brakes and slow the pace more.
Air Force may show signs periodically of mustering capability but this game is Denver’s all the way.
