DENVER – The [19/RV] University of Denver men's lacrosse team raced out to a 12-4 lead, thanks in large part to a seven-goal second quarter en-route to its second top-15 win of the season as the Pioneers got past [15/14] Ohio State 17-12 on Sunday afternoon in-front of a sold out crowd on Alumni Weekend at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
Coming off his first career hat trick last weekend, Stephen Avery tied for the third most goals in a game in the program's Division I history, canning seven to lead the Denver offense.
 
Inside the Box Score:
Avery's career afternoon and a third five-goal game of the career of JJ Sillstrop led the Denver offense. Richie Connell added five assists and Noah Manning had four assists.
 
Malcolm Kleban had eight saves and a goalie assist in three and a half quarters of play. Ryan Giles had two goals, two of the three pole goals the Pioneers cashed in on in the first half.
 
Alec Stathakis finished 20-for-33 from the faceoff stripe with 10 ground balls.
 
Sillstrop and Manning combined for three caused turnovers in the ride and Jimmy Freehill had two of his own on the defensive end. Casey Wilson led Denver's defense with three ground balls.
 
First Quarter:
Denver got out to a 3-1 lead in the opening quarter. Sillstrop did his work early, completing his third hat trick of his season and the 13^th of his career in the opening 15 minutes. Colby Smith got his first of four on the day for the Buckeyes to cancel out Sillstrop's opener with 7:39 to play. Sillstrop scored his 14^th and 15^th of the season, both off feeds from Manning to make it 3-1 through 15 minutes.
 
Second Quarter:
The second quarter featured two different two minute un-releasable penalties, one on each team, that created all the momentum in the game.
 
Avery got his first two on the man-up from Ohio State's two-minute penalty to push Denver's lead to 5-1. OSU got back-to-back tallies to cut the lead to 5-3 before AJ Mercurio got two cracks at the cage and cashed in on the second, Denver's first of three pole goals in the second quarter to make it 6-3 with 8:57 to play.
 
OSU made it 6-4, 40 seconds later, before Avery's hat trick goal and Ryan Giles first pole goal just seven seconds later pushed the lead right back to four goals.
 
Denver's two-minute penalty on Mercurio could have given Ohio State the momentum right back, but a second pole goal on the man-down for Giles in transition off a three-quarter field feed from Kleban made it 9-4 and then Avery's fourth goal of the quarter exactly a minute later gave Denver two goals on the same man-down situation and extended Denver's lead to 10-4 heading into the intermission.
 
Third Quarter:
Sillstrop and Avery found twine to begin the second half, making it a 7-1 Denver run spanning back to the second quarter. The Buckeyes didn't quit, scoring six of the next seven goals in the third quarter to trim Denver's lead all the way back down to three at 13-10 with 54 seconds to go in the quarter.
 
Avery's sock trick goal in the middle of the OSU run, and his seventh with four tics on the clock to end the Buckeyes spurt took Denver's lead to 14-10 heading into the final 15 minutes of play at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Denver got the first three of the final frame to give itself some more breathing room again at 17-10 with 4:47 to play in regulation. Mic Kelly's fifth of the year, Sillstrop's fifth of the day and Andrew Atchison's fifth of the season extended the Denver lead.
 
OSU got the final two goals of the game 16 seconds apart, but the Pioneers held on for the five-goal win against the 15^th-ranked team in the country.
 
Game Notes:

• Denver improved to 14-12 against Ohio State, including 8-3 in the Mile High City and 6-2 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
• In his final season, Bill Tierney improved to 433-150 in his career, 161-57 at the University of Denver, 85-16 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium and 10-4 against Ohio State.
• Denver's defense forced four shot clock violations, including three in the first quarter. The Pioneers have a 17-14 edge in shot clock violations this season.
• The Pioneers improved to 71-85 in their Division I history against ranked opponents, including 60-46 under Tierney. Denver improved to 29-24 at home against ranked opponents.
• On Alumni Weekend, Denver won in-front of 2,597 at Peter Barton, its biggest crowd of the season, and the 55^th sellout at PBLS.
• Denver improved to 116-25 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium and 43-9 under Tierney in sellouts.
• The Pioneers scored 15+ goals for the first time this season, and 17 goals for the first time since defeating St. John's 18-4 at Peter Barton last April.
• Stephen Avery scored seven goals on 7-of-9 shooting.
  • Avery recorded Denver's 24th sock trick in its Division I history, and was Denver's first of the season. The sock trick was also the 19^th in the history of men's games at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
  • Avery was the first Pioneer to score seven goals since Ethan Walker netted eight at No.7 Villanova on April 6, 2018.
  • Avery's seven goals tied for the third most in the program's Division I history. Wes Berg and Ethan Walker hold the record with eight and Wes Berg had seven twice along with associate head coach Matt Brown.
  • Avery's seven goals tied for second in the men's history of Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
• Denver scored its second and third man-down goals of the season.
• Richie Connell had five assists on Sunday afternoon.
  • Connell was the first Pioneer to distribute five assists since Ted Sullivan had five against Towson last March.
  • Connell's five assists tied for the third-most in a game in Denver's Division I history.
  • Connell's five assists also tied for the third most in a men's game at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
• Denver's seven-goal second quarter was its first since last April at Providence. 

TICKETS: Single game tickets for the 2023 Denver men's lacrosse season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
UP NEXT: The Denver men's lacrosse team, presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will have a rare bye week next weekend before the Pioneers head to the nation's capital to take on Georgetown in both teams' BIG EAST opener on April 1 at 10 a.m. MT.
 
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