MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The [11/10] University of Denver men's lacrosse team extended its winning streak to five to end the regular season as Stephen Avery found the back of the net on the Pioneers' second possession of overtime to take Denver past Marquette 15-14 in both teams' regular season finale on Friday night at Valley Fields.
 
Inside the Box Score:
Richie Connell led the Denver offense with six points on four goals and two helpers. The four goals tied for Connell's most in a Denver uniform. Mic Kelly had four points on his first career hat trick and an assist. Michael Lampert had a couple of goals and a helper and Avery rounded out Denver's multi-goal scorers with a pair.
 
Alec Stathakis went 22-of-33 from the faceoff stripe and picked up 13 ground balls in the process.
 
Lampert had two caused turnovers in the ride and Jack DiBenedetto led the Denver defense with two of his own.
 
Casey Wilson led Denver's non-faceoff players with three ground balls.
 
First Quarter:
Kelly opened the scoring with his 10^th goal of the season less than 90 seconds into the contest. A back and forth first quarter saw Avery and Ty Hussey answer a pair of Marquette goals to put Denver 3-2 ahead with 5:32 to play.
 
Michael Lampert finished his trademark blow by and then dive across the crease to make it 4-2 and then Kelly's second of the quarter provided a response to a Bobby O'Grady goal to give Denver a 5-3 lead through 15 minutes of play in Milwaukee.
 
Second Quarter:
Marquette scored the first three and four of the first five to take its first leads of the day at 6-5 and 7-6. O'Grady completed a first-half hat trick to lead the Golden Eagles offense in the opening 30 minutes.
 
Connell broke-up the Marquette run with his 11^th of the campaign and then Connell got his second of the night off a quick groundball after JJ Sillstrop broke-up the Marquette goalie's outlet pass.
 
Stathakis won his 10^th faceoff of the first half before Denver took a timeout to set-up its last play of the half. Connell hit Jack Tortolani, who bounced one in from distance to give Denver the lead back at 8-7 heading into the locker room.
 
Third Quarter:
The back-and-forth nature returned in the first four goals of the third quarter as Noah Manning and Lampert provided answers to Marquette tallies to keep Denver up 10-9 with 9:28 to go in the third.
 
Connell completed his hat trick midway through the third off a feed from Hussey for his 13^th of the season. After a pair of Marquette goals tied it back up at 11-11, Connell's fourth of the game came on a 3-minute offensive possession for the Pioneers, and a behind-the-head goal from Sillstrop gave Denver another strong end to a quarter to make it 13-11 Pios heading into the final regulation frame of the regular season.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Kelly's hat trick goal opened the fourth-quarter scoring with 11:59 to play to give Denver its biggest lead at 14-11. After not scoring for nearly a full quarter, Marquette responded with three-straight to end regulation, including a Jake Stegman goal with 11 seconds to go to tie things up and send us to overtime.
 
Overtime:
Sillstrop had Denver's first crack at a winner, but his shot was saved and Marquette cleared before calling timeout. Jake Edinger came up with a massive caused turnover on the other side of the timeout to set up Avery's winner on the other end. The goal was Avery's 25^th of the 2023 season.
 
Game Notes:

• Denver's OT winner was the Pioneers first extra-session winner since two years to the day (April 28, 2021) when Ethan Walker scored the game-winner at Villanova.
• The Pioneers improved to 12-8 in overtime under head coach Bill Tierney, including 1-1 this season. Denver has won eight of its last 10 and 11 of its last 14.
• In his final season, Tierney improved to 438-151 overall and 166-58 in his 14 seasons at Denver.
• Denver improved to 12-2 in the all-time series, including 5-0 in Milwaukee. Denver is 11-0 in regular season games against the Golden Eagles.
• Richie Connell finished off his first hat trick of the season and the 12^th of his career.
• Mic Kelly netted his first career hat trick in the contest.
• Jack DiBenedetto has multiple caused turnovers in four of his last five games.
• Alec Stathakis tied a career-high with 22 faceoff wins (22 at Notre Dame, 3/7/20)
• Eight different Pioneers scored.
• Denver's offense scored five goals in both the first and third quarters.

 
UP NEXT: The Denver men's lacrosse team, presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will begin its postseason on Thursday when the second-seeded Pioneers take on third-seeded Villanova on Thursday at a time to be announced at Valley Fields. The game will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network and Tyler Maun will have the call throughout the postseason on 104.3 The Fan HD3.

Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports.
Like Denver Pioneers and DU Men's Lacrosse on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_MLAX on Twitter
Follow @denverpioneers and @denvermlax on Instagram