Sophomore attackman Mark Matthews scored two goals in the last five minutes to lead No. 20 Denver to a come-from-behind, 9-8 victory over No. 17 Fairfield in an NCAA Division I ECAC game Saturday morning in Hartford, Conn.

Matthews scored a team-high three goals, but none were more important that his final two, which came with 4:35 and 3:58 remaining in regulation to turn an 8-7 deficit into a 9-8 lead. The Pioneers (10-4, 5-0 ECAC) held on from there to win their seventh straight and move into a first-place tie with Loyola in the conference standings.

Charley Dickenson dished a pair of assists, and Alex Demopoulos, Todd Baxter, Andrew Lay, Patrick Rogers, John Dickenson and Colin Scott all scored a goal apiece to round out the Denver offense.

In the cage, goalie Peter Lowell saved nine shots.

In defeat, Sam Snow had a game-high four points on three goals and one assist for Fairfield (8-4, 4-2).

Fairfield took a 3-0 lead less than six minutes into the game and was ahead 4-2 at the end of the first quarter, 5-3 at halftime and 7-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Matthews' go-ahead goal with 3:58 to play gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game. Denver finished the game on a 4-1 run.

Denver won despite being outshot 29-23 and losing the ground-ball battle 24-16.

“At the end of the first quarter, we thought it was going to be a blowout. Fairfield took it to us,” Denver head coach Bill Tierney said. “I thought it was a great game. We played really well after the first quarter. It was just a great lacrosse game between two pretty good teams.”