DENVER – The [17/15] University of Denver men's lacrosse team got four-goal games from half of its starting offense and freshman goaltender Grayson Manning made 12 saves in his first career start to lead the Pios past Marist 18-5 on Friday night at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS:
The Manning brothers highlighted the first half. The netminder Manning made 10 of his 12 saves in the first half and older brother and starting attackman Noah Manning scored three of his four goals in the opening 30 minutes.
 
Entering the game with just one goal this season, starting attackman Judge Murphy had four goals on Friday night on 4-of-4 shooting. Midfielder Mic Kelly added four more and an assist for a five-point night. Fellow starting midfielder Jack Tortolani also had five points on a goal and four assists and Marek Tzagournis had a pair of goals and a pair of helpers to round out a 22-point night for Denver's starting offense.
 
After a slow start in the first half, faceoff midfielder Michael Kraus went 6-for-7 in the third to kickstart the second-half run. Chris Caldwell led the Pioneers with five ground balls.
 
POSTGAME NOTES:

• Denver had three players record hat tricks for the 31^st time since the start of the 2014 season. The Pioneers only had three players record hat tricks once last season, and that came in the NCAA Tournament First Round vs. Michigan.
• Denver improved to 181-33 when scoring double digit goals since Matt Brown joined the staff full time in 2008.
• The Pioneers 12-0 run in the second half was Denver's 31^st 10-1 run or better since the start of the 2010 campaign.
• DU improved to 127-27 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium since it was built in 2005.
• The Pios scored six goals in a quarter for the first time this season, doing so twice in the second half.
• Mic Kelly's hat trick was his second of the season and the seventh of his career.
• Kelly's four goals were a new career high for the junior.
• Noah Manning's hat trick was his first of the season and his ninth of the campaign.
• Judge Murphy's hat trick was his first as a member of the Pioneers, and the 28th of his collegiate career.
• Marek Tzagournis' four points (2G-2A) were a new career high.
• Jack Tortolani's four assists and five points were both career highs.
• Offensive starters Cody Malawsky and Joshua Carlson did not play due to injury.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Marist opened the scoring on its first possession before back-to-back tallies from Noah Manning and Marek Tzagournis gave the Pioneers their first lead of the day with 10:52 to go in the opening frame.
 
Mic Kelly answered a Marist goal to make it 3-2 with six minutes to go. Judge Murphy then scored his second of the campaign to give Denver back-to-back tallies for the second time to make it 4-2 with 2:09 to play.
 
After a Marist goal trimmed it to a one-goal game, the Pioneers rattled the crossbar twice on their final possession of the quarter and settled for a goal lead at the end of the quarter.
 
Second Quarter:
Marist opened the second-quarter scoring as well to even the game at 4-4 with 12:47 to go in the half. Manning's second of the night off a feed from Kelly came with 10:20 to play in the frame.
 
The Red Foxes leveled the score once more with 5:38 to go before Manning completed his ninth-career hat trick
 
In his first career start, Grayson Manning made 10 saves in the opening 30 minutes to keep Denver in-front 6-5 at the break.
 
Third Quarter:
Denver scored all six of the third quarter to break the game open after the intermission. Murphy's second of the night opened the scoring in the half, followed by goals from Tzagournis and Manning to make it 9-5 with 8:43 to play.
 
Murphy's second of the quarter completed his hat trick to make it 10-5 with 3:09 to go before Kelly converted on the man-up to push the lead to 11-5 with 2:29 to play.
 
Jack Tortolani closed out the quarter on the back pipe off a feed from Andrew Atchison to close out the scoring and make it a 12-5 game heading to the fourth.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Denver got all six in the fourth quarter as well to push the margin to 13 by the time the final horn went. Kelly scored his third and fourth of the night to make it 14-5 and Murphy netted his fourth to push the lead to 10 with 9:03 remaining.
 
Important reserves made the most of their opportunities in the second half of the quarter as Denver got first career goals from Tim Kirchner, Watt Muir and Tye Scott.  
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will close out its only two-game week of the regular season on Sunday afternoon when the Pioneers welcome Quinnipiac to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Opening faceoff is set for 12 p.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast on Midco Sports Plus and 104.3 The Fan HD3.
 
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