Box Score In a rematch of last year's second round NCAA Tournament match-up the 19th ranked Big Red would outscore Aurora University 11-5 in the second half to secure a 19-10 win over the Spartans.
Four first quarter penalties by the Big Red put the Spartans in man-up situations and Aurora capitalized, scoring three of its first four goals of the game while in extra-man. Max Obriecht's second man-up goal of the game with 14:39 to play in the second quarter gave Aurora a 4-3 lead. Denison would respond by scoring five of the next six goals to take an 8-5 lead into the intermission.
In the first half, DU got two goals from Nick Caravana and James Meager and goals from Blair Farinholt, Jamie McCahan, Will Donohue and Liam Rooney.
In the third quarter, Aurora would commit six turnovers allowing DU to dominate possession for most of the period. Donohue gave the Big Red a 9-6 lead off a pass from Rooney and two minutes later Donohue would find the back of the net off an assist from Josh Happ.
Donohue would finish with a career-high five goals and two assists. Eric Baumgardner won 16-of-25 draws and led the home team with nine ground balls. He is winning 61 percent of faceoffs this season and leads the team with 45 ground balls. Obriecht won 10-of-21 faceoffs taken and led his team in points with three goals and one assist. Sophomore defenseman Teddy Sawyer posted four ground balls and scored his first goal of the season in transition after an Aurora turnover in the fourth quarter.
Rooney followed Donohue in the scoring column with four goals and three assists while Caravana ended with two goals and one assist. Meager posted four points (2 goals, 2 assists) and McCahan added a pair of scores. DU's goals were rounded out by Farinholt, Happ, Sawyer and Justin DeMarchi.
Denison outshot the Spartans 44-23 and dominated the ground ball game 30-16. There were 12 penalty flags thrown in the game. Aurora was 4-of-8 in extra man situations while Denison went 1-of-4. Elliott Avis got the start in goal for Denison and played 56 minutes. He allowed seven goals and finished with four saves. Aurora starter Cameron Brooks also finished with four saves while allowing 15 goals.
No. 19 Denison improves to 4-2 and will hit the road for a pair of neutral field games against St. Mary's (Wednesday) and Montclair State (Saturday). The St. Mary's game will be played at Johns Hopkins University and the Montclair State game will take place at Malvern Prep in suburban Philadelphia.
