Despite 14 saves from senior goalie Cole Blazer, the Marquette University men's lacrosse team fell to No. 4 Denver, 7-4, on Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Stadium in Denver. The Golden Eagles (6-7, 3-2 BIG EAST) trailed by just a pair of goals in the fourth quarter, but could not overcome four failed clears and an 11-2 disadvantage at the face-off X. Denver (11-2, 5-0 BIG EAST) wrapped up its fifth No. 1 seed in the BIG EAST tournament with the victory and will face Marquette again in the league semifinals on Thursday, May 3 at 3:30 p.m. Central time at Villanova Stadium. Austin French posted a hat trick to lead the Pioneers, while junior Nate Marano scored twice in DU's 26th BIG EAST regular season victory in as many tries. The two teams were held off the scoreboard until the 5:40 mark of the first quarter when Marano scored in transition off a Luke Vassos turnover during a failed clear. Marano took a feed from Ethan Walker and beat Blazer at the right side of the cage. The Pios went on to build a 3-0 edge before Colin Riehl potted his third of the year with 3:32 left before halftime. Riehl stripped Trevor Baptiste following a DU face-off win and scored at the other end by bouncing a shot past Josh Matte on a Griffin Fleming feed. The MU deficit didn't remain at two for long though as Baptiste captured another face-off win and scored himself just eight seconds later for a 4-1 advantage, which DU took into the half. Blazer entered the break with eight saves after making four in each of the first two quarters for the Golden Eagles. Senior Zachary Mellillo, who was fighting through illness, won the first two face-offs of the second half and scored his first goal of the year just nine seconds into the third quarter. Marquette, which is 2-6 all-time against DU, has never beaten the Pioneers in regular season action, but owns victories in each of the last two conference tournaments over the perennial national title contenders. The Pioneers, who honored their senior class prior to Saturday's game, are 26-0 all-time in BIG EAST regular season action. The Golden Eagles will face the top-seeded Pioneers in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship, presented by Jeep, on Thursday, May 3 at 3:30 p.m. Central time in Villanova, Pennsylvania.