VILLANOVA, Pa. – The [9/10] University of Denver men's lacrosse program used a 3-0 third-quarter to separate from [RV/RV] Villanova and earn a 9-6 win in both teams' BIG EAST opener on Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Michael Lampert finished with a four-point afternoon on two goals and an assist. Cody Malawsky scored twice and added an assist. Noah Manning also had two goals, scoring Denver's first goal in each of the two halves of lacrosse.
 
Alec Stathakis finished 13-of-19 from the faceoff stripe with two ground balls and a caused turnover.
 
Malcolm Kleban made seven saves, including six in the second half, finishing Denver's seventh win of the season at 53.8%.
 
Jimmy Freehill finished with a career-high six caused turnovers, tied for the second-most in a game in Denver's Division I history.
 
NOTES:
Denver is now 48-4 in BIG EAST regular season play since joining the league in the 2014 campaign.
The Pioneers improved to 18-4 all-time against Villanova, winning their third-straight and sixth in the last seven in the series.
The win is Denver's second win when scoring less than 10 times this season. Entering the campaign, Denver had won just 14 games since 2010 when scoring less than 10.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Villanova opened the scoring just shy of three minutes in on a goal from Dan Martin to put the home team up a goal. Noah Manning responded with Denver's only goal of the quarter off a feed from Richie Connell to send the two teams into the second frame all tied up.
 
Second Quarter:
The two teams alternated goals in the second quarter as well, heading into the locker room all knotted up at 3-3. Cody Malawsky got the scoring started with 12:25 to go in the period, finishing a feed from Stephen Avery. The Wildcats' Colin Michener would go on to equalize four minutes later to even things up at two apiece.
 
Malawsky's second of the quarter made it 3-2 with 3:55 to go before Matt Licata tied things for a third time with 18 ticks on the clock.
 
A sloppy first half saw both teams turn the ball over 14 times. Denver had a 19-12 edge in shots, including 11-4 on goal, but an 8-1 save edge to the home team was what was able to keep the score level.
 
Third Quarter:
Malcolm Kleban made three big saves early in the third quarter to setup Denver blanking the Wildcats in the period. Manning's second of the day opened the second-half scoring off a feed from Lampert to make it 4-3 with 11:12 to go. JJ Sillstrop got his first goal of the afternoon on another feed from Lampert to give the Pioneers their first two-goal lead of the day. Avery closed out the third-quarter scoring with a long dodge down the left alley before burying his fourth of the season.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Lampert got his first goal and third point of the afternoon to stretch the Denver run to 4-0 and the lead to 7-3 with 12:45 to go in regulation. Nicholas Lucchesi got Villanova's first goal of the second half to put an end to the Pioneer run and make it 7-4 with 12:29 to go.
 
Lampert's second goal off a feed from Malawsky extended the Pioneer lead back to four with 12:29 to go and a pole goal off the faceoff from AJ Mercurio gave Denver a 9-4 advantage with 12:18 to go to give the Pioneers their first five-goal lead of the afternoon.
 
Dan Martin added a goal for Villanova to make it 9-5 and then Will Wheeler scored 27 seconds later to trim the Pioneer lead to three at 9-6 with 9:44 to play. Denver's defense got its footing back and held Villanova without a goal in the final 9:44 to secure the three-goal win.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will return home for the first time in nearly a month for its first of two Friday night games under the lights at Barton this April when the Pioneers welcome St. John's next week. Friday's faceoff is set for 6 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Single game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
 
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