SALT LAKE CITY – The [8/6] University of Denver men's lacrosse program scored six times in both the first and fourth quarters the its defense held [RV/RV] Utah to just eight tallies in a 16-8 win on Saturday afternoon inside Rice-Eccles Stadium.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Joshua Carlson led the Pios with four tallies, including a first-half hat trick. Michael Lampert added a hat trick of his own to go with two assists for a five-point day. Denver had three more scorers finish with two to bring the multi-goal scorers to give. JJ Sillstrop had two goals and two helpers, Noah Manning had a pair and an assist and Jack Tortolani scored two goals on three shots.
 
Alec Stathakis went 18-of-26 from the stripe with 10 ground balls.
 
For the second-straight game, Malcolm Kleban made 14 stops, this time against just eight goals allowed.
 
NOTES:

• Denver moved to 3-0 on the season for the first time since starting the 2017 campaign at 4-0. 
• JJ Sillstrop extended his active point streak to 18 and his active goal streak to 10, both team highs.
• Denver scored six goals in both the first and fourth quarters, the first time the Pios have scored six in a quarter since last April against Providence.
• Joshua Carlson's hat trick was the first of his career, making his four-goal afternoon a new career high.
• Michael Lampert's hat trick was his first of the season and the third of his career.
• Denver had five different players score multiple goals for the first time this season and the 20^th time since the start of the 2014 season.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
A nine-goal first quarter saw the Pioneers take a 6-3 lead through 15 minutes of action in Salt Lake. Joshua Carlson scored Denver's opener, followed by Denver goals from Noah Manning to make it 2-1. Carlson's second of a first-half hat trick made it 3-2 Pios with 5:53 to play in the first. JJ Sillstrop found twine to give Denver its first two-goal lead with 4:07 left, but Utah got back within one with 1:14 to go in the opening frame.
 
Denver scored two in the final minute with tallies from Jack Tortolani and AJ Mercurio off a faceoff to round out the first-quarter scoring.
 
Second Quarter:
Denver used those two goals to end the first to start a 4-0 run in total to stretch the lead to 8-3 with 10:33 to go in the half. Carlson completed his hat trick with 13:27 to go for Denver's seventh and Ty Hussey got a feed from Sillstrop for the Pioneers eighth.
 
Utah got a pair of goals 90 seconds apart to trim the Denver lead to 8-5 before Michael Lampert dodged around the goal one side before reversing course and going to the other post to make it 9-5 with 6:52 to go in the second.
 
The two defenses stepped up in the final seven minutes of the frame and the Pioneers took a 9-5 lead into the intermission.
 
Alec Stathakis won 12 of the 17 faceoffs in the first half of play and Malcolm Kleban finished the first half at 50%, stopping five-of-10 shots on goal.
 
Third Quarter:
Manning rattled the back of the net 11 seconds into the quarter to make it 10-5 Pios, the only goal Utah would allow in the third frame. Utah's two goals came with 6:01 to play and at the buzzer to cut the Denver lead to 10-7 heading into the final 15 minutes.
Kleban made four saves in the third to keep the Pioneers margin intact.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Denver outscored the Utes 6-1 in the final frame. Lampert's second got the scoring started before Carlson netted his fourth. After Ryan Stines scored for Utah, Denver got a goal from Sillstrop, a goal from Adam Hangland against the Utah 10-man, Tortolani's second of the day and Lampert's hat trick goal.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will return home next Saturday to open a three-game homestand against nationally-ranked Cornell. Opening faceoff is set for 12 p.m. MT at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
TICKETS:
Single game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
 
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