NCAA Lacrosse Championship 2015: Score and Recap for Denver vs. Maryland

Call it the start of a new era in NCAA lacrosse.

No school west of North Carolina had ever won the college lacrosse championship. That changed Monday afternoon in Philadelphia as Denver earned the 2015 NCAA national title with a 10-5 victory over Maryland.

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Recap: @DU_MLAX Brings First #NCAALAX Title West With 10-5 Win Over @TerpsMLax http://t.co/kNcgTWT42S pic.twitter.com/X5DSOEeEWF

— Lacrosse Magazine (@LacrosseMag) May 25, 2015"

The victory was especially meaningful for head coach Bill Tierney, who had won six national lacrosse titles while coaching at Princeton. However, Tierney left the Tigers in 2009 to go to Denver with the hope of establishing a strong team.

Tierney steadily built his team, as the Pioneers made the NCAA tournament in 2010, his first year with them, and they have made it every year since then. They were considered preseason favorites to win the championship, and Tierney encouraged his players to look at those expectations and embrace them.

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Denver wins their first #ncaaLAX national title, while former Princeton coach Bill Tierney takes his seventh. pic.twitter.com/RLcBdiLAMl

— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAA_Lax) May 25, 2015"

They lived up to those hopes and dreams by taking it to sixth-ranked Maryland from the start. Wesley Berg set the tone for the fourth-ranked Pioneers on the first possession of the game, when he scored to give Denver a quick lead. That was the first of his five goals in the game, and he would help the Pioneers build a lead that they would not relinquish at any point.

In the semifinals, Berg scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Notre Dame that propelled Denver to the championship game. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the competition. 

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With OT winner Saturday vs. ND and 5G in finals win over Maryland, Wes Berg was named Most Outstanding Player pic.twitter.com/64UuRRTnm1

— Lacrosse Magazine (@LacrosseMag) May 25, 2015"

Goalie Ryan LaPlante also had a huge game as he had 13 saves for the Pioneers. The Denver defense made life difficult for Maryland's offense by collapsing down low and making sure most of the Maryland shots came from the outside.

"That's what we wanted to do," Tierney told ESPN after the game. "We wanted to limit those good scoring opportunities by playing tough defense from start to finish. We knew we couldn't let them get close shots."

Maryland did not have the firepower to match Denver. The Terps had made it to the finals based on their defense, which had allowed 6.89 goals per game, a figure that led NCAA men's lacrosse.

Denver came into the game averaging 13.94 goals per game, making it the fifth-highest scoring team in the nation. The Terps simply did not have any answers for Berg and Denver's quick-strike offense.

Matt Rambo led the Terps with two goals and an assist, while Zach Miller had a goal and two assists for the winning Pioneers.

Maryland has not won the national title in lacrosse since 1975.

Tierney became the first coach in the history of the sport to win a national title at two Division I schools.