TOWSON, Md. – The No. 5 seed University of Denver men's lacrosse program used a 4-0 run early in the third quarter to separate from and eventually defeat No. 4 Syracuse  10-8 on Sunday afternoon at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
 
Denver will take on No. 1 Notre Dame in the national semifinal on Saturday May 25 on ESPN2.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Denver's defense was on lockdown on Sunday afternoon, holding Syracuse to single digits for the first time this season. The Pios combined for 10 caused turnovers, led by three from short stick defensive midfielder Dan Anderson. Casey Wilson led the Denver D with five ground balls, while Jimmy Freehill picked up three. Malcolm Kleban finished with 10 saves against just eight goals allowed.
 
Alec Stathakis won the faceoff battle against Syracuse's tandem. Stathakis went 12-for-22 with six ground balls and a caused turnover. In Denver's key third-quarter run, Stathakis went six-for-nine from the stripe, and nine-of-13 overall in the second half.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, Denver's attack all finished with multiple goals in the win, to go along with a two-goal game from Ty Hussey. Cody Malawsky had two goals and a ground ball, JJ Sillstrop scored on two of his five shots and Michael Lampert had two goals and a helper to lead Denver with three points. Joshua Carlson also added a goal and an assist to round out Denver's multi-point getters.
 
NOTES:

• With the win, Denver punched its ticket to Championship Weekend for the sixth time, and the third time in Philadelphia.
• Denver's Championship Weekend appearance will be its first since 2017.
• Michael Lampert improved his team-high point streak to 15 games, while Cody Malawsky extended his team-high goals streak to nine.
• Alec Stathakis improved to 54-11-4 in faceoff match-ups in his career.
• Denver's senior class moved into a tie with Jacksonville for the eighth-most wins in their five-year careers with 48.
• The Pioneers killed off two Syracuse penalties to continue to lead the country in the category.
• Denver improved to 178-32 since Matt Brown arrived in 2008 when scoring at least 10 goals.
• The Pioneers improved to 78-89 in its DI history against nationally ranked opponents, including five wins this year.
• Denver improved to 16-11 in the NCAA Tournament, including 8-6 at neutral site.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Denver opened the scoring courtesy of Mic Kelly's first of the day, fourth of the tournament and 20^th of the season to put the Pios in-front late in their first possession.
 
Back-to-back goals from Syracuse gave the Orange their first lead of the day with 6:22 to play in the opening quarter.
 
Michael Lampert dodged from X and beat his man to the top of the crease and buried his 20^th of the season to even things up once more at 2-2 with 5:03 to play in the frame.
 
Late in the quarter, Joshua Carlson beat his man with a long dodge down the left alley and buried his 17^th into the top corner to give Denver a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
Second Quarter:
Michael Leo's second of the game for the nation's fourth seed even things up at 3-3 heading into the media timeout. A strong defensive quarter for both teams, that included five saves for the Syracuse netminder kept things level at 3-3 before Ty Hussey buried one from distance off a feed from Michael Lampert with 30 seconds to play in the half to send Denver into the locker room with a 4-3 lead.
 
Third Quarter:
Denver scored the first four of the third quarter to stretch it to a 5-0 run and an 8-3 lead for the Pioneers. Cody Malawsky had a shot crawl across the goal line off the keeper's stick to make it 5-3. Hussey then buried his second of the afternoon with 12:48 to go in the third frame. Malawsky used a toe drag to beat his defender on the crease late in the shot clock for his second of the day and JJ Sillstrop converted a feed on the crease from Mercurio in transition to make it 8-3 with 5:51 left.
 
Syracuse had its second two-goal run of the game, scoring on back-to-back possessions, the latter with 2:50 to go to cut Denver's lead to 8-5.
 
Jack Tortolani posted up and hit a cutting Sillstrop that he buried for his second goal and push the Pios lead back to four. After being the center of the video review at Villanova two weeks ago, Lampert was on the good side of a video review on Saturday, beating the shot clock and the goalie with 44 seconds left to make it 10-5 Pios.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Back-to-back tallies from Syracuse for the third time on the day trimmed the Denver lead to three with 8:29 to go. Owen Hiltz made it a three-goal Syracuse run with 3:18 to go to cut into Denver's lead again, and make it a two-goal game for the first time since it was 5-3 77 seconds into the second quarter.
 
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