DENVER – The [7/5] University of Denver and [6/8] Cornell gave the second-biggest crowd in the history of Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium (3,025) an absolute show on a beautiful 60-degree Saturday afternoon at PBLS, and the Pios used their second four-goal comeback of the season to improve to 4-0 with a 17-16 victory.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Noah Manning led the Pioneers with five goals and a helper for six points, a career-high for Manning in both goals and points. JJ Sillstrop netted his second hat trick of the season and the 18^th of his career to go with three assists for a six-point day of his own. Michael Lampert played the role of facilitator on Saturday, scoring once and distributing a career-high four assists.
 
Jack Tortolani scored twice in the first half and Daniel Clark played his role on the man-up scoring once and adding a pair of helpers with the man-advantage.
 
Alec Stathakis had another big day from the faceoff stripe, tying his career-high for the third time in faceoff wins with 22 on 37 attempts. Stathakis won all eight draws in the fourth quarter and picked up eight ground balls in the contest.  Malcolm Kleban finished with 10+ stops yet again, making 12 saves, including eight in the second half.
 
NOTES:

• JJ Sillstrop scored his 100^th career goal on Saturday, becoming the fifth-fastest in program history to reach the milestone, doing so in 48 games. Sillstrop got to the century mark two games faster than former offensive coordinator and current head coach Matt Brown.
• Sillstrop extended his team-high point streak extended to 19 games and his goal streak extended to 11.
• Noah Manning's point streak stretched to 14.  
• Most combined goals in a game (33) since defeating Providence 23-10 (33 on 02/27/21).
• Denver improved to 75-87 against ranked opponents, including 30-24 at home.
• 2-0 vs. top-6 teams this year 20-30 overall against top-6 teams, including 7-2 against the No. 6 ranked team nationally.
• The Pioneers had 10 different goal scorers on Saturday afternoon, including three from defensive players (Mercurio, Giles, Wilson).
• Saturday marked the 28^th time since Brown joined the staff in 2008 that Denver has had double-digit goal scorers, and the first time since February, 2023 against Merrimack.
• The comeback is Denver's second four-goal comeback this season (Hopkins in 2024 season opener)
• Denver improved to 120-25 since Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium opened in 2005.
• Today's sellout was the second-largest crowd in program history, and was the 57^th sellout overall.
• Denver has had at least one sellout in every season since 2011 (13-straight).
• DU's 42 ground balls on Saturday were its most since picking up 44 at St. John's on April 24, 2021.
• Denver scored five man-up goals, the first time the Pioneers have done that since March 1, 2020 in a 15-13 loss to North Carolina.
• Most goals allowed (16) in a win in Denver's Division I history
   

HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Denver and Cornell exchanged the first six goals in a back-and-forth first quarter. Jack Tortolani got Denver on the board on its first possession off a feed from Michael Lampert to put the Pios in-front. Cornell answered with a goal on its first offensive possession.
 
Stephen Avery finished a Joshua Carlson feed to put Denver up 2-1 before Cornell leveled things at 2-2 with 2:43 to go. Cornell had the first back-to-back goals of the afternoon to take its first lead at 3-2 with 1:37 to play in the opening frame. JJ Sillstrop's 11^th goal of the season leveled things back up heading into the quarter break.
 
Second Quarter:
Tortolani's second made it a 4-3 game before Cornell went on the first three-goal run of the afternoon to take a two-goal advantage with 7:04 to play in the half.
 
Lampert's fourth of the season from X stopped the run but Cornell scored three of the final four of the half with an AJ Mercurio goal sandwiched in the middle of it to take a 9-6 lead into the intermission.
 
Second Half:
Casey Wilson struck 10 seconds into the start of the second half to pull Denver within two before Cornell rattled off back-to-back goals to take the first four-goal lead of the day before Sillstrop's second to make it 11-8 with 11:40 to go.
 
Cornell was called for a two-minute un-releasable penalty that the Pios took advantage of with Manning scoring twice to make it an 11-10 contest with 8:43 to play in the third. The Big Red though responded well after getting back to full strength, scoring three-straight goals 3:02 apart to push their lead right back to four at 14-10 with 4:40 to go in the third.
 
The game of runs continued as the Pioneers responded with the next four tallies to tie things up at 14-14 and seven of the night eight to close out the contest.
 
Daniel Clark scored Denver's third man-up goal of the half to make it 14-11, followed by another Manning tally that trimmed the deficit to two. Sillstrop completed his hat trick on the man-up with 11:53 to go in the fourth to pull Denver within one and Manning's fourth of the day from Lampert tied it at 14-14.
 
Cornell got a stop on the defensive end and scored with 9:09 to play to retake the lead at 15-14, but goals seven seconds apart from Manning (his fifth) and Ryan Giles gave the Pioneers their first lead since 4-3 in the early stages of the second quarter.
 
Richie Connell got his first of the day on the man-up with 4:55 to go to give Denver a two-goal lead, but Cornell was able to get a big defensive stop and scored on the other end to make it 17-16 with 1:43 to play.
 
Wilson appeared to make the final defensive play needed, but was called for a loose ball push with under 30 seconds to play. Cornell retook possession, but the Pios defense pressure caused them to throw it away. Denver cleared it and held on for the final seconds to take their second one-goal victory of the season and their second four-goal comeback.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will stay at home for the middle game of this three-game homestand next weekend when the Pioneers welcome Le Moyne to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Faceoff on Pioneer Vision and 104.3 the Fan HD3 is set for 7 p.m. MT. Le Moyne is the 64th different program the Pioneers will have played in their Division I era. 
 
TICKETS:
Single game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
 
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