MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The [9/9] University of Denver men's lacrosse team got a trio of hat tricks and the defense turned in a second impressive performance against [12/13] Villanova this season to send the Pioneers past the Wildcats 16-9 in the second BIG EAST Semifinal on Thursday night at Valley Fields.
 
Inside the Box Score:
JJ Sillstrop led the Pioneers with four goals and 4-of-7 shooting. Noah Manning had a hat trick and an assist for a four-point night and Michael Lampert finished with five points on three goals and two helpers. Richie Connell rounded out Denver's multi goal scorers with a pair of first-half goals. Joshua Carlson co-led Denver in assists with Lampert, finishing with a career-high three points on a goal and two assists.
 
Alec Stathakis grounded out a 15-for-29 night with eight ground balls and a goal off the opening faceoff of the second half. Stathakis won six of the eight faceoffs in the fourth quarter to seal the Denver win.
 
Malcolm Kleban made eight saves in net, including five in the first half to aid Denver's first-half spurt.
 
First Quarter:
Villanova got on the board first a little more than two minutes into the contest.
 
Denver responded with the next six in the contest, including four to end the first quarter. Manning got Denver on the board first to even things up on Denver's third possession of the night. Lampert then got back-to-back goals with the second assisted by Mic Kelly to quickly make it a two-goal Denver lead.
 
Sillstrop rounded out the first-quarter scoring with his 30^th goal of the season to make it a 4-1 game through 15 minutes in Milwaukee.
 
Second Quarter:
Connell got his offensive spark going in the second frame, scoring 3:04 and 4:52 into the quarter to push Denver's lead to 6-1 and cap the 6-0 Denver spurt.
 
Tyler Boes ended the Villanova first-half drought with his eighth of the year, a stretch of 22:39 in-between Wildcats goals.
 
Kelly got Denver's seventh and final goal of the first half with 2:22 to play to make it 7-2, and then Matt Campbell's 36^th for Villanova 34 seconds later sent both teams into the locker room with the Pioneers on top 7-3.
 
Third Quarter:
Stathakis scored off the opening faceoff of the third quarter, netting his third of the season to kick-start a 4-0 Denver run to start the second half that stretched Denver's advantage to 11-3.
 
Manning's second and third of the night were sandwiched around Sillstrop's second marker to complete the 4-0 run.
 
Villanova scored three goals around Stephen Avery's 24^th goal of the season to pull back to within six at 12-6 heading into the final 15 minutes of the semifinal.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Villanova got two more to make it a 4-0 Wildcats run and trim the Denver lead to 12-8 with 11:34 to play. A big defensive stop on one end and Sillstrop's hat trick goal on the other stopped the run with 8:32 to play and then Carlson got his eighth of the season to continue a 4-1 run to end the game for the Pioneers. Sillstrop's fourth and Lampert's hat trick tally in an empty net finished off the Pioneers 10^th win of Bill Tierney's final season.
 
Game Notes:

• In his final season, Tierney improved to 439-151 overall and 167-58 in his 14 seasons at Denver.
• Denver improved to 153-27 when scoring double digits under Tierney and 168-31 since Matt Brown joined the staff in 2008.
• Denver is 115-6 under Tierney when the Pioneers hold their opponent to single digits.
• The Pioneers improved to 73-86 against ranked opponents, including 62-47 under Tierney.
• The Pioneers scored 16 goals in a game for the first time since the Ohio State win on March 19, 2023. 16 goals tied for the third-most in a conference tournament game in Denver's history.
• Michael Lampert's five-point night tied for the 10^th-most points for the Pioneers in a conference tournament game.
• JJ Sillstrop's four goals tied for the fourth-most in a conference tournament game in the Pioneers DI history.
• Denver improved to 17-4 all-time against Villanova, including 3-1 in the BIG EAST Tournament.
• The Pioneers and Georgetown will meet in the BIG EAST Final for the fifth time (GT leads 3-1).

 
UP NEXT: The [9/9] Denver men's lacrosse team, presented by Your Hometown Toyota Stores, will take on [8/8] Georgetown in the BIG EAST Championship on Saturday. Opening faceoff on CBS Sports Network and 104.3 The Fan HD3 is set for 3:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. MT.

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