WASHINGTON, D.C. - Junior Steph Greenlees (Lake Forest, Ill.) scored five goals to lead the University of Denver women's lacrosse team to an 11-9 victory over American University on Friday afternoon at Reeves Field. The win ends Denver's seven-game skid and improves the Pioneers to 2-9. The Eagles fall to 4-6.

Freshman Megan Tyrie (Littleton, Colo.) scored the game's first goal, giving Denver an early 1-0 advantage. American responded just a minute later, but goals from Greenlees and sophomore Kate Broderick (Chantilly, Va.) put the Pioneers up 3-1 with 18 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Eagles netted the game's next goal to pull within one at 3-2. Greenlees put on a display of the next 10 minutes, tallying three consecutive scores to give Denver a 6-2 halftime lead.

American's Lauren Aksionoff opened the second stanza with a goal, cutting the Pioneers' advantage to three. Broderick, senior Tara Bourdelaise (Grambrills, Md.) and freshman Victoria Baines (Parker, Colo.) almost put the game out of reach by registering the game's next three goals.

Rebecca Copeland and the rest of the Eagles would not go away quietly however. Copeland scored four times in the game's final 19 minutes as American attempted a monumental comeback.

Goals from Greenlees, her fifth of the day, and senior Crystal Jack (Kingwood, Texas) down the stretch put Denver up 11-5 with 11:34 remaining. The Eagles would score the game's final four goals, but ran out of time as the Pioneers held on for an 11-9 victory.

Greenlees and Broderick led Denver with five and two goals, respectively. Broderick and Bourdelaise each had two assists for the Pioneers. Senior goalkeeper Steph Schneider (Leesburg, Va.) made three saves as Denver outshot American, 28-17.