DENVER – The [17/17] University of Denver men's lacrosse program got goals from eight different players, and had four multi-goal scorers led by redshirt junior Cody Malawsky's five tallies in a 15-9 win over [RV/-] Michigan on Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
 
LEADERS:
Malawsky added two points to his five goal day, tying his career high for both single-game goals (5) and single-game points (7).
 
Chris Merageas, Watt Muir and Marek Tzagournis all had a pair of tallies. Daniel Clark led the Pioneers in assists with three to go with a goal for a four-point afternoon.
 
On the defensive end, Brody Davis had a team-high three caused turnovers, and Russell Overly had a career-high six ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
 
Luke Smeader went 14-of-26 from the stripe with 10 ground balls, and a caused turnover to go with it in the win.
 
Grayson Manning finished at 57.1% with 12 saves on 21 shots on goal.
 
Luke Shannehan led Michigan with four points on two goals and two helpers.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Cody Malawsky opened the scoring with 11:16 to go in the first half, dodging his man, bouncing off a few slides and burying his shot under the crossbar. Coming off a faceoff win, Chase Bruno quickly doubled Denver's lead 36 seconds later for his sixth tally of his first campaign with the Crimson and Gold.
 
Michigan cut the Denver lead to one before Russell Overly checked his man out of bounds leading to a 4-on-1 offensive transition opportunity for the Pioneers that Chris Merageas buried for his third goal of the season.
 
Lucas Klokiw hit Malawsky, who switched hands 10-yards out and fired home his second of the opening quarter to extend Denver's lead to 4-1 with under two minutes to play.
 
The Wolverines got one back off the ensuing faceoff to make it a 4-2 game heading into the quarter break.
 
Second Quarter:
Grayson Manning's fifth save of the afternoon sparked another transition goal for the Pioneers, this one taking five passes to get it up the field before Merageas finished a Watt Muir feed for his second of the day.
 
Michigan answered with a man-up tally to trim Denver's lead back to two with 11:27 to play before halftime. The Wolverines got the next goal as well, cutting the deficit to one with 4:17 to go. UM made it a 3-0 run to tie things up once more at 5-5 with 1:22 remaining in the second frame. The game went into the intermission knotted up at five apiece.
 
Third Quarter
Michigan committed a push on the opening faceoff of the period, and Watt Muir converted a Daniel Clark feed for the man-up tally to restore Denver's lead 30 seconds into the second half.
 
After Michigan leveled the game at six, Malawsky just beat the shot clock with his hat trick tally on the next possession to make it 7-6 Denver with 12:17 to play. Malawsky netted his fourth off a Denver defensive stop to push the Pioneers lead back to two at the 10:32 mark. Tim Kirchner got on the scoresheet for just the second time in his career to give Denver its joint biggest lead at three past the midway point of the third. Kirchner also drew a penalty on his goal, which Marek Tzagournis netted off a Malawsky feed to make it 10-6 Pioneers with 5:39 to go.
 
Michigan broke up the 5-1 Denver run to start the second half with Luke Shannehan bounced home his first of the afternoon with 3:45 to play in the third. After another Michigan penalty, Tzagournis struck again on the man-up off a Clark feed to put DU up 11-7 with under two minutes left in the third.
 
The Wolverines struck twice in the final 63 seconds of the frame to trim Denver lead to two heading into the fourth.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Sam Trumble through a cross-field bounce pass to the crosse of Klokiw, who went low and just inside the post to make it 12-9 with under 12 minutes to play. After a Luke Smeader faceoff win, another cross-field pass opened up the Michigan defense, this time Clark found Muir on the left wing for Denver's 13^th goal of the day.
 
Clark finished a Malawsky feed to make it 14-9 and Malawsky scored his fifth in an empty net to wrap-up the scoring with 3:20 to play.
 
Postgame Notes:

• Saturday's attendance was 2,268, the 66^th sellout in the history of Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
• Denver improved to 131-31 all-time at PBLS.
• The Pioneers improved to 4-0 all-time vs. Michigan.
• Denver's man-down killed off five of Michigan's six opportunities.
• On the offensive side, Denver was 3-for-4 in extra man situations, the first time Denver has scored three man-up goals since March 2, 2025 vs. Quinnipiac.
• In three years under head coach Matt Brown, Denver improved to 20-0 (4-0 this season) when holding opponents to under 10 goals.
• Cody Malawsky finished with 5G-2A-7P
• Malawsky finished with his first 4+ goal game of the year.
• Malawsky's hat trick was his second of the season and the seventh of his career.
• Malawsky finished with 4+ points for the second time this season and the seventh time of his career.
• Malawsky's five goals tied a career high.
• Malawsky's seven points tied a career high.
• Marek Tzagournis finished with a pair of goals.
• Tzagournis, who entered the game with one man-up goal in his career, scored twice on the man advantage on Saturday.
• Defenseman Russell Overly picked up six ground balls and caused two turnovers on Saturday.
• Overly's six ground balls is a new career high for the redshirt junior.
• Daniel Clark had 1G-3A-4P, including two man-up helpers.
• Clark's assist total and point total on Saturday was a new career high.

 
UP NEXT: Denver will have 10 days off before traveling to Columbus, Ohio, to take on Ohio State on March 12 at 5 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on B1G+.
  
TICKETS: Tickets for the 2026 season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
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