COLUMBUS, Ohio – The [7/8] University of Denver men's lacrosse program got 13 saves from senior goalie Malcolm Kleban to lead the Pioneers to a 9-6 win at [RV/RV] Ohio State on Sunday afternoon at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
On the offensive side, Denver's midfield carried the day, accounting for seven of the Pioneers nine tallies. Mic Kelly scored three goals on seven shots, while Joshua Carlson rounded out Denver's multi-goal scorers with two of his own. Michael Lampert continued his season of creating from behind the cage, scoring a goal and adding two assists.
 
Alec Stathakis controlled the possession game for the Pioneers, going 13-of-19 and picking up nine ground balls, including going 5-for-5 in the fourth quarter.
 
Kleban was one shy of his career high in saves, stopping 13 shots against just six goals allowed (.684). Kleban had five of his 13 stops in the fourth quarter.
 
AJ Mercurio led the Pioneers defense in caused turnovers, recording three of Denver's five on the afternoon.
 
NOTES:

• Denver's 6-1 start to the season is its best since the Pioneers started 7-0 in the 2016 campaign.
• The Pioneers defense held their opponent to six goals or less for the first time since defeating Providence 13-6 on April 21, 2023.
• Denver shut out Ohio State in the third quarter, the first time the Pios have held an opponent scoreless in a quarter since April 21 against Providence.
• Kleban finished with double digit saves for the fifth time this season and the eighth time in his career.
• Kleban picked up win number 15 of his career, moving into a tie for eighth in career wins in Denver's DI history.
• Mercurio's three caused turnover day is his second of the season and the fourth of his career.
• Mercurio moved his career total in caused turnovers to 44, moving past Mike Riis and Christian Burgdorf on Denver's Division I career list for sixth all-time.
• Kelly's hat trick was the third of his career.
• Denver improved to 15-12 against Ohio State in the program's Division I history, winning each of the last four meetings and improving to 5-6 in Columbus.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
After a couple of defensive stops each way, Noah Manning broke the deadlock, finishing from the top of the crease off a feed from Michael Lampert to get the Pioneers on the board with 11:25 to go in the opening quarter.
 
Denver's defense forced back-to-back shot clock violations before Mic Kelly found an angle he liked on the left wing and buried his seventh goal of the season to double the advantage.
 
The Pioneers attempted to hold for the last shot of the quarter, but Kelly's pass couldn't connect with a Pioneer on the opposite wing and Alex Marinier scored in transition to make it 2-1 Pios heading into the second frame.
 
Second Quarter:
Denver conceded just its second man-down goal of the season to open the second quarter scoring as Marinier netted his second of the afternoon to make it a 3-2 ballgame with 9:33 to go in the second quarter.
 
In the final 30 seconds of the shot clock, Kelly dodged from X on a restart and beat his defender to the left wing for the second time Sunday and finished off another tally to make it 4-2. The Kelly goal sparked a quick run for the Pioneers, who got a goal from Michael Lampert 40 seconds later to make it 5-2 Pios and a Joshua Carlson strike on a feed from Lampert to make it 6-2 with 4:56 to go and force Ohio State's second timeout of the half.
 
Gannon Matthews broke the Ohio State scoring drought to pull the Buckeyes back to within three with 1:11 to go in the half and Jack McKenna got a fourth Ohio State tally on the final possession of the half to send the game into locker room at 6-4.
 
Third Quarter:
The two offenses couldn't get in sync in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, with Denver forcing a couple more shot clock violations and the Pios turning it over on the other end themselves. Kelly completed his hat trick to break an otherwise scoreless third quarter to restore Denver's three-goal lead by completing his second hatty of the season.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Ohio State's first goal of the second half came with 13:28 to go in regulation off the stick of Ed Shean to make it a 7-5 game. A couple of possessions later, Carlson put his first shot of the possession wide before converting a feed from Jack Tortolani to bury his second of the day and restore the Pioneers' three-goal advantage.
 
Ohio State's defense got a stop off another Stathakis faceoff win before Matt Caputo scored his seventh of the campaign to make it an 8-6 contest with 8:07 to go.
 
Stephen Avery made it a three-goal game once more with 3:13 to play, scoring his third goal of the season off another feed from Lampert behind the cage.
 
Kleban stopped Ohio State's last couple of attempts to secure the three-goal win and send the Pioneers to 6-1 on the season.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will return to the east coast next weekend with its third trip to Baltimore in 2024 to take on nationally-ranked Duke. Opening faceoff is set for 2 p.m. ET/12 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Single game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
 
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