DENVER – The [RV/RV] University of Denver men's lacrosse team used a 5-1 third quarter to pull away from [RV/-] Merrimack six-goal lead after 45 minutes en-route to a 13-9 win on Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
Inside the Box Score:
Alec Stathakis went 19-of-26 from the stripe, picking up nine ground balls in the victory. Noah Manning led the Pioneers with a career-high four goals, Denver's only multi-goal scorer, and one of 10 goal scorers for Denver on Saturday afternoon.
 
Richie Connell and Michael Lampert had three points apiece on a goal and two assists.
 
On the defensive end, Jack DiBenedetto and AJ Mercurio finished with two caused turnovers apiece. DiBenedetto added four ground balls, one of seven Pioneers with multiple ground balls.
 
Denver outshot Merrimack 58-26, including 35-18 on goal. The Pioneers forced seven Merrimack turnovers in the clearing game.
 
Merrimack goalie Henry Vogt made 22 saves, the most in a game at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium
 
First Quarter:
Denver took a 4-2 lead in the opening 15 minutes, scoring first for the fourth time in four games this season. Andrew Atchison scored unassisted to start things off with 10:50 to go in the first quarter. Dan Anderson's first career goal was an answer in transition to Merrimack's first tally of the game. Casey Wilson gave Denver's SSDM's two goals in the opening quarter to make it 3-1 with 2:53 to play. After Jack Rooney's second cut Denver's lead to 3-2, Jack Tuttle scored in the final 10 seconds of the frame to send Denver to a two-goal advantage after the first.
 
Second Quarter:
Rooney completed his hat trick to make it 4-3 before Manning got his first of two in the second quarter to make it 5-3 with 10:11 to go in the half. Brian Russell found the back of the net to make it 5-4 before Denver got back-to-back goals from Stephen Avery and Manning to take Denver's lead to its biggest of the half at three with 4:38 to go. Merrimack closed out the first-half scoring in the final minute to send Denver to the locker room with a 7-5 lead.
 
Denver outshot Merrimack 30-13 in the opening 30 minutes, including 15-10 on goal. Stathakis went 11-for-14 from the stripe in the first half.
 
Third Quarter:
Denver outscored Merrimack 5-1 out of the locker room to build a 12-6 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of play at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
Connell buried his third of the season off a feed from Ryan Giles. Mic Kelly's second of the year made it 9-5 with 10:51 to go in the quarter. After a Merrimack goal, Denver reeled off the next four, including the next three in the third quarter. Manning's third and fourth were sandwiched around JJ Sillstrop's ninth of the year closed out the third-quarter scoring.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Lampert's fourth of the 2023 campaign opened the fourth-quarter scoring before Merrimack scored the final three of regulation.
 
Game Notes:

• In his final season in college lacrosse, Bill Tierney improved to 159-56 at DU and 431-149 in his 39-year career.
• Denver improved to 115-25 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, since the stadium was built in 2005. Denver is also 84-16 under Tierney at PBLS.
• Denver has 10 different goal scorers for the 28^th time since Matt Brown became the offensive coordinator in 2008 (First time since at Providence last April).
• The Pioneers took 58 shots on Saturday, its most since March 13, 2022 against Yale.
• JJ Sillstrop, Noah Manning and Stephen Avery extended their goal scoring streaks to four games.
• Michael Lampert pushed his point streak to 12 games and Richie Connell stretched his to 11.
• Malik Sparrow moved into a tie for ninth in career caused turnovers with 34.
• Denver hit a post or crossbar seven times on Saturday afternoon, bringing its four-season total to 134 compared to its opponents 64.
• Denver is 146-27 when scoring double-digit goals under Tierney.
• The Pioneers improved to 111-6 when holding its opponents to under 10 goals under Tierney.

 
TICKETS: Single game tickets for the 2023 Denver men's lacrosse season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
UP NEXT: Denver will head right back to the state of North Carolina next weekend when the Pioneers take on the Tar Heels of UNC. Faceoff on ACC Network Xtra is set for 9 a.m. MT.
 
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