STORRS, Conn. – The UConn women's lacrosse team dropped the BIG EAST weekend series finale to No. 22 Denver, 11-7, Sunday afternoon at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs. 

The loss dropped the Huskies to 8-4 overall and 4-2 in the BIG EAST while the Pioneers remained unbeaten in the league at 6-0 and are now 8-1 overall.

The nationally ranked Pioneers used a strong defensive effort and a big second half to come away with the weekend sweep.  UConn was held to season low seven goals and 20 shots while Denver allowed UConn's top-goal scorer, senior Sydney Watson (Prince Fredrick, Md.), to score just once on the day.

UConn senior Abby Vetsch (Marcellus, N.Y.) scored the Huskies first two goals of the game and classmate Sam McKenna (Fayetteville, N.Y) notched her first of two to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead at the 11:24 mark of a tight first half.  After two from Denver tied the game up, UConn sophomore Kyra Place (Enola, Pa.) gave the Huskies a 4-3 lead at the break with her fifth on the year at the 5:36 mark.

Denver used the first 14 minutes of the second half to put four-straight goals on the board and grab a lead they would not give up as they outscored the Huskies, 8-3, in the final 30 minutes.  Julia Gilbert scored twice to open the half to put her team up 5-4 with 23:03 on the clock.

Watson scored on a free position attempt at 13:06 and sophomore Madeline George (Rush, N.Y.) got one at 8:04 to pull the Huskies to within 7-6 but the Pioneers again put the clamps on defensively to pull away.

Denver's Bea Behrins scored two of her four goals on a 4-0 run over the final six minutes to give her team an 11-6 lead with 1:14 left before UConn's McKenna got her second in the closing minute to end the drought.

The Huskies won 13 of the 20 draws in the game led by Watson who won seven but Denver forced 25 UConn turnovers on the day.  Gilbert joined Behrins in scoring four goals to lead the Pioneers.

Prior to Sunday's game, the Huskies honored their nine graduating seniors for their contributions to the women's lacrosse program the last four seasons.

UConn will return to BIG EAST action on April 16 and 18 when they head to Villanova for a weekend series.