DENVER – The [18/19] University of Denver men's lacrosse team used a balanced scoring attack led by four goals from Alex Simmons to get past St. John's  18-4 on Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
Inside the Box Score:
Denver controlled the game from the faceoff dot, leading 19-7 in that category to aid a 54-24 edge in shots on Saturday afternoon.
 
Simmons led the Pioneers with four goals and a helper for a five point afternoon, one of 12 Pioneers to find the back of the net in the contest. Ted Sullivan had four points with two goals and two assists, becoming the 20^th Pioneer in the program's Division I history to career point number 100 in the victory. Mic Kelly and Stephen Avery rounded out Denver's multi-goal scorers, potting a pair each.
 
In addition to scoring his first goal of the year in transition off a feed from Sullivan for the graduate student's milestone point, AJ Mercurio led Denver's defense with three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls. Jack DiBenedetto also had a pair of CTs to go with two ground balls.
 
First Quarter:
Denver raced out to a 4-0 lead in the opening quarter. Sullivan got the Pioneers on the board on Denver's first possession, dodging down the alley before switching hands and picking out the corner. Another senior Simmons finished a feed from Kelly to double the lead before Avery finished his first of the season to make it 3-0 Pios inside the first 4:20.
 
Ellis Geis got his second in as many games off a feed from Johnny Marrocco to round out the first quarter scoring.
 
Second Quarter:
Simmons second of the day opened the second quarter scoring off Marrocco's second helper of the first half. St. John's got its only goal of the opening half with 12:26 to play in the second on the game's first man-up opportunity.
 
Richie Connell, Sullivan JJ Sillstrop and Kelly rounded out the second quarter scoring to send Denver into the locker room with a 9-1 lead. Denver had six assists on its nine first half goals.
 
Alec Stathakis went 10-for-11 from the stripe in the opening 30 minutes, and finished 13-of-14 I the game.
 
Third Quarter:
Denver got the first three goals of the third quarter, including Mercurio's laser and goals from Simmons and Kelly.
 
Following a pair of St. John's tallies, Riley Curtis bounced home a Jack Hannah feed and Simmons scored his fourth to push the lead back to 11 at 14-3.
 
St. John's ended the third quarter scoring with its final goal of the day at 1:22 to go in the third to make it 14-4 heading into the fourth.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Denver scored all four in the fourth. Manning's second started the quarter before Ned Forbush scored his first career goal, Avery got his second of both the game and the 2022 season and Andrew Atchison closed out the scoring with 13 seconds to play.
 
Notes

• Denver improved to 41-3 in BIG EAST regular season play.
• Sullivan is the third active player to get to 100 career points, joining Jack Hannah and Simmons
• Denver, who entered the game fifth in the country in turnovers per game, turned it over just seven times in the contest.
• The Pioneers had double digit goal scorers in a game for he third time this season and the 24^th time since Matt Brown joined the staff in 2008.
• Denver allowed less than five goals for the first time since limiting Providence to five in a 14-5 win in May of 2021.

What's Next
The University of Denver men's lacrosse team, Presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will return to the road next weekend when the Pioneers travel to Providence. Faceoff is set for 10 a.m. MT.  

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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