USAFA, Colo. – JJ Sillstrop (Encinitas, Calif) became the first DU freshman to score five goals in his collegiate debut to lead the [9/9] University of Denver men's lacrosse team past [15/-] Air Force 13-7 on Saturday at Cadet Lacrosse Stadium.
"I thought this was an amazing week for a group of young men that didn't know who we were coming into the week," head coach Bill Tierney said. "We got our brains beat in by Delaware last week in a scrimmage, we practiced in four different venues with some terrible weather this week, but we stayed focused. I told the team that I really thought our second-string guys won this game, preparing us for a really good Air Force team."
Denver is now 15-7 is season openers in its Division I era, including 6-0 against the Falcons. Coming off a win at No. 5 Duke last week, Air Force falls to 1-1 with the loss.
It was an afternoon for collegiate debuts as freshman Alec Stathakis (Northville, Mich.) finished his first game 16-of-21 from the faceoff dot, picking up 12 ground balls in the victory. Senior Ethan Walker (Peterborough, Ontario) had two goals and a helper, while junior Jack Hannah (Milford, Ohio) added four points on a goal and three assists.
In Air Force's second game of the season and the Pioneers 2020 season opener, the two squads traded the first six goals of the contest, including three Denver goals from Sillstrop and Falcons' goals from Trey Lervick, Matthew Schwartz and Mike Matheson.
Sillstrop's third goal of the afternoon with 7:31 to go in the second quarter started a three-goal run for the Pioneers that carried across the intermission. Hannah's first goal of the 2020 campaign gave Denver its first lead of the afternoon with 3:48 to go in the second. The Pioneers took that 4-3 lead into the intermission.
Goal number four from Sillstrop opened the third quarter scoring to give Denver a 5-3 lead 61 seconds into the third. Sillstrop became the second Pioneer to score four goals in his first career game, joining Nate Marano, who also had four goals in the Pioneers last trip to Cadet Lacrosse Stadium in 2016 (played at Falcon Stadium in 2018).
"Give Coach [Matt] Brown a lot of credit," Tierney said. "JJ has been playing well, but he's been playing to please us (coaches). Coach Brown told him this week, be JJ, and I think he did that today."
Air Force scored two straight to even the score at 5-5, but another three goal run for the Pioneers gave Denver the lead back at 8-5 with 12:08 to go in the fourth quarter.
Senior captain Danny Logan (Upper Arlington, Ohio) broke the 5-5 deadlock with 3:42 to go in the third with his 16th career goal. Sophomore midfielder Alex Simmons (Smithville, Ontario) opened the fourth-quarter with his first of the afternoon, starting a 4-0 fourth-quarter run that also saw goals from Walker, junior Ted Sullivan (Tucson, Ariz.) and the first career tally for freshman LSM AJ Mercurio (Reno, Nev.).
Following Denver's run that made it 10-5, Air Force scored consecutive goals for just the second time on Saturday to cut the Pioneers lead to 10-7 with 7:24 in the third.
Stathakis won his 15th faceoff of the afternoon following Air Force's seventh goal and drew a penalty to setup Drew Erickson's (Danville, Calif.) man-up tally to push Denver's lead back to four at 11-7 with 6:52 to go in regulation. Walker added another goal on the man-advantage following Air Force's seventh penalty of the day to get Denver's lead back to five before Sillstrop's fifth came in an empty-net situation to make it 13-7.
Braden Host made a career-high 21 saves for the Falcons.
UP NEXT:
The Denver men's lacrosse program, Presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will open its 2020 home schedule on Saturday, February 15th, when the Pioneers welcome Duke to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m. MT, and will be broadcast live on Altitude on 104.3 The Fan.
2020 DENVER ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME RECEPTION: Denver announced its 2020 Athletic Hall of Fame class in January. The inductees will be honored on the DU campus May 16. For more information, registration for the reception and donation information, click here.
SHOP PIONEERS:
Get dressed for Game Day! Get your Pioneers gear at ShopPioneers.com, the official online store of University of Denver Athletics.
TICKETS:
For all Denver Athletics ticket inquires, call 303-871-GOAL (4625), or visit DenverPioneers.com. Season tickets for the 2020 lacrosse season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
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