CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The [20/19] University of Denver men's lacrosse team came from six goals down to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but [8/9] North Carolina scored the game's final three goals to give the Heels a 17-16 win on Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
 
Inside the Box Score:
JJ Sillstrop finished with a team-high six points on three goals and three assists. Alex Simmons netted his seventh career hat trick for the Pioneers, putting up four points on three goals and a helper.
 
Jack Hannah used three goals in the third quarter to complete his 14^th career hat trick, adding a first-half assist for a four-point day.
 
Michael Lampert had the first multi-goal game of his career and Ted Sullivan rounded out Denver's multi-goal scorers with two of his own.
 
Alec Stathakis finished 20-of-35 (two off his career-high) at the faceoff stripe, picking up six ground balls.
 
First Quarter:
North Carolina got on the board first on its first possession to take an early lead, before the Pioneers responded with back-to-back tallies to take their only lead of the quarter with 10:50 to go in the first.
 
For the second-straight game, Lampert got Denver's scoring started. Denver earned a man-up chance off the Lampert goal, and the Pioneers converted. Riley Curtis hit Simmons for his first of two goals in the first half.  
 
The Tar Heels responded with three-straight to make it 4-2 to the home team with 5:06 to play in the quarter. Chris Gray had two in the run and Jacob Kelly scored his second of the afternoon for the Heels.
 
Sillstrop's first of the day came right off the faceoff from the final goal in UNC's run to pull Denver back to within one with 5:00 to go in the frame.
 
UNC took a 4-3 lead into the second quarter, having outshot the Pioneers 18-8 and 8-5 on goal. Goalie Jack Thompson had four saves in the opening 15 minutes.
 
Second Quarter:
Denver opened the second quarter with two quick ones out of the gate. Simmons scored his second of the afternoon off a feed from Hannah and then Sullivan dodged from the middle of the field to give Denver the lead back less than a minute into the second quarter.
 
Lance Tillman tied things up for the Tar Heels before Johnny Marrocco gave Denver the lead back with 9:40 to go in the first half. UNC had its first goal directly off a faceoff in response to even things at 6-6 before closing out the scoring in the half with Gray's hat trick goal with 1:41 to play in the second quarter.
 
Thompson had four more saves in the second quarter to bring his total to eight. Alec Stathakis had an 8-7 advantage facing off at the intermission.
 
Third Quarter:
North Carolina scored the first five out of halftime to take a 12-6 lead in the opening seven minutes of the third quarter.
 
Simmons completed his second hat trick of the season to stop a 7-0 North Carolina run that ran back to the middle of the second quarter. The Simmons tally took Denver to 2-for-2 on the man-up on the afternoon.
 
Hannah made it back-to-back goals, reacting first to a rebound off a saved shot by Sillstrop to put home his first of the day and draw Denver back to within four at 12-8 with under five minutes to play in the period.
 
North Carolina held Denver's run to just two, scoring on its next possession after the Hannah tally.
 
Denver ended the quarter on a 3-0 spurt in the final 2:33. Hannah completed his third-quarter hat trick with back-to-back goals to make it 13-10 UNC and then Lampert got his first multi-goal game in the books with a goal with seven seconds to go in the third quarter to cut the Tar Heels lead to two at the end of three.

Fourth Quarter:
North Carolina got the first goal of the fourth quarter to push its lead to 14-11, but a pole goal from Jimmy Freehill off the faceoff and two more tallies from Sullivan and Sillstrop brought Denver all the way back from 12-6 down to tie things up at 14-14 with 10:25 to play in regulation.
 
The Pioneers extended its run to a 5-0 spurt in a span of 2:29 with Noah Manning's first of the game and Sillstrop's second in the run to make it 16-14 Pioneers.
 
North Carolina scored the game's final three goals, holding the Pioneers without a tally in the final 9:02 to take the 17-16 win.
 
Notes

• Jack Hannah stretched his team-leading point streak to 21 games.
• JJ Sillstrop and Johnny Marrocco also extended their active point streaks to six games.
• Alex Simmons' hat trick was his second of the season and the seventh of his career.
• Jack Hannah completed his second hat trick of the season and the 14^th of his career.
• JJ Sillstrop netted his fifth hat trick of the season and the eighth of his career.
• Denver has had three players finish with a hat trick in the same game 27 times since the start of the 2014 season, including five times in the last season and a half.

 
What's Next
The University of Denver men's lacrosse team, Presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will return to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium next Sunday to host [12/13] Yale at 11 a.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on Pioneer Vision and ESPN Denver 1600.
 
For the latest University of Denver updates on the coronavirus, click here.
 
TICKETS:
Single game tickets for the 2022 Denver men's lacrosse season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
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