CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The [RV/RV] University of Denver men's lacrosse team got its first road win of the season, and a big one it was, as the Pioneers took down [12/11] North Carolina 9-8 on Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
 
North Carolina (3-2) took its first lead of the day with 3:24 to play in the fourth, but a pair of faceoff wins and goals on the next two possessions from Mic Kelly and JJ Sillstrop gave Denver the lead with 1:23 to play, a margin the Pioneers (3-2) would hold on to, to improve to 3-2 on the season.
 
Inside the Box Score:
Mic Kelly and Joshua Carlson scored two apiece to lead the Denver offense. Richie Connell had two assists, including the helper on Sillstrop's game-winner. Sillstrop, who didn't start for the Pioneers on Saturday, scored the winner on his first and only shot of the afternoon.
 
Malcolm Kleban made seven saves, playing the entire 60 minutes on Saturday for the first time in his career.
 
Alec Stathakis finished 70% from the stripe, going 14-of-20 with eight ground balls. Kleban added six ground balls to complete North Carolina turnovers.
 
Denver's defense held North Carolina to eight goals, and did not commit a penalty on the road Saturday afternoon.
 
First Quarter:
Andrew Atchison opened the scoring for the Pioneers in his debut in the starting lineup on Saturday to give Denver an early advantage on the road. North Carolina quickly leveled the score on the next possession to tie things up just less than five minutes into the contest.
 
The teams alternated goals in the first quarter of play. Stephen Avery and Joshua Carlson gave Denver leads at 2-1 and 3-2, respectively, but Carolina made it 3-3 with 3:36 to go in the first.
 
Kelly found twine on Denver's final possession of the quarter to give Denver a 4-3 advantage after 15 minutes of play in Chapel Hill.
 
Second Quarter:
The defenses clamped down in the second quarter as both teams failed to score in the opening eight minutes of the frame before Ty Hussey became the fifth Pioneer to score on Saturday morning to double Denver's advantage to 5-3 with 6:57 to go in the first half. Carlson's second made it 6-3, 43 seconds later to push Denver's lead to three.
 
North Carolina got its first goal of the quarter with 1:36 to play and then after Michael Lampert rattled the crossbar, Sean Goldsmith scored just before the horn to cut the Denver lead to one as the teams went to the locker room.
 
Stathakis went 9-for-12 from the stripe in the first half, picking up five ground balls on his nine faceoff wins. Malcolm Kleban made four saves in the opening 30 minutes.
 
Third Quarter:
Another quiet scoring quarter saw North Carolina tie things up at 6-6 with 11:14 to play in the frame. Lampert got Denver its first goal of the half with 1:30 to go in the third to give Denver the lead back at 7-6.
 
Fourth Quarter:
North Carolina tied it up with 12:54 to go and took its first lead of the day with 3:24 to play in regulation.
 
Kelly's second of the afternoon tied things up at 8-8 on the next Denver possession, and then Sillstrop got free on top of the crease and Richie Connell found him to take Denver ahead once again at 9-8 with 1:23 to play.
 
Denver's defense forced North Carolina's 17^th turnover of the afternoon and Denver ran out the final 11 seconds of the game to earn the top-15 road win
 
Game Notes:

• In his final season in college lacrosse, Bill Tierney improved to 160-56 at DU and 432-149 in his 39-year career.
• Denver scored the first goal of the game for the fifth time in five games this season.
• The Pioneers improved to 8-13 all-time against North Carolina, snapping the Heels three-game winning streak in the series. Denver earned its fifth win in 13 trips to Chapel Hill.
• Denver improved to 112-6 under Tierney when the Pioneers defense holds their opponent under 10 goals in a game.
• DU improved to 70-84 against ranked opponents in the Pioneers Division I history, including 59-45 under its legendary head coach.
• The win marked Denver's first when trailing in the fourth quarter since the Pioneers came from 8-7 down in the fourth to beat Towson 12-9 on March 26 of last season.
• The win was Denver's first one-goal win since winning at Utah 14-13 in the season opener a year ago.
• Joshua Carlson finished with the first multi-goal game of his career.
• Mic Kelly had his first multi-goal game of the season and the second of his career.
• Malcolm Kleban made a career-high seven saves in his second victory in-between the pipes for the Pios.
• Dan Anderson had a career-high two caused turnovers to lead the Denver defense.
• Malik Sparrow had a caused turnover to bring his career total to 35, two shy of Dylan Johnson for eighth on Denver's all-time list. 

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 head to Yale next Saturday. Faceoff on ESPN+ is set for 11:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. MT.  
 
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