(4) Brady Burton celebrates his eighth goal of the day with (21) Rick Mackessy. Denison topped Ohio Wesleyan 16-12 on Saturday.

Brady Burton (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) scored eight goals, with four coming in a pivotal second quarter as the Denison Big Red defeated Ohio Wesleyan 16-12 on Saturday at Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.  The victory clinches the outright North Coast Athletic Conference championship and runs Denison's winning streak to 10 games.  That is the most consecutive wins by a Big Red team since 1985 and two shy of the school record for consecutive wins, set in 1982.

Ohio Wesleyan got off to a fast start, countering Teddy Epstein's (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) goal off the opening face-off, as Rob Young scored 1:25 into the game and The Bishops would rattle off three more to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.

With 11:48 to play in the second, Burton netted his second goal of the day off a pass from Dan Maude (Wayne, Pa./Haverford). After the ensuing face-off the Bishops' Craig Aronoff would be flagged for a illegal body check, putting DU in extra-man where Emmett Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) would connect with Tanner Smith (Boxford, Mass./Brooks School), tying the game at 4-4.  After the goal, two more penalties kept Denison in man-up offense.  In an almost exact replay of the goal scored 1:50 earlier, Jones hit Smith in the same spot for the go-ahead goal.  Following the goal, the Bishops would be flagged for the fourth time in two and a half minutes and DU would score again, this time off a  Rick Mackessy (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) to Burton play.  In all, DU rattled off three consecutive extra-man goals which would help them go on a 7-0 run in the second quarter.

With a 9-4 lead at the half, DU managed to keep Ohio Wesleyan within an arms length the rest of the way.  With 13:39 left in the fourth quarter, Steve Fowler cut the lead to three at 12-0 but Mackessy and the Big Red responded with an unassisted goal with 9:42 to play.  The final nail would be driven home off the crosse of Burton who capped off an outstanding day with his career-best, eighth goal.

As they have done all season, the Big Red dominated the face-off circle, winning 21-of-31, including 5-of-7 in the pivotal second quarter.  Conner Detjen (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) had a busy afternoon.  The ninth-ranked face-off man in D-III heading into the contest improved his percentage to .675 by going 17-for-24.  He also picked up 12 ground balls, which was a season high. In all, Denison picked up 40 ground balls to Ohio Wesleyan's 18.

Alex Baruch (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) posted 14 saves highlighted by a five-save first quarter which kept Ohio Wesleyan's early advantage at a minimum.  The Bishops split time in goal between Ryan Perone and Jud Hall.  Perone posted five saves in the first half and Hall stopped four would-be goals in the second half.

Overall, 14 penalties were called and the two teams each posted four extra-man goals.  OWU was led in scoring by Nick Gallagher's five goals and one assist.  Harrison Iuliano posted two goals and assisted on two others.

Denison improves to 13-2 and will await announcement from the NCAA Tournament selection committee on Sunday evening.  The selection show will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. CBS College Sports Network is available on cable systems across the country and it can be found on Dish Network (channel 152) and DirecTV (channel 610).

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View Sunday's article in the Newark Advocate