DENVER – The University of Denver men's lacrosse program got 13 points from its starting attack to pace the Pioneers offense to a 15-9 win over St. John's on Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
LEADERS:
Cody Malawsky had four goals and an assist to lead the way for Denver, while
Marek Tzagournis added two goals and three helpers for a five-point afternoon. In his second start of the season, attackman
Chris Merageas had a goal and two helpers to round out Denver's 3+ point days.
The Pioneers 11 different players score in total on Saturday.
On the defensive side of the ball,
Russell Overly continued to lead the way on the ground for the Pioneers, picking up five more for DU.
Chris Caldwell had two CTs and two grounders in the win.
Sophomore
Grayson Manning made nine saves against nine goals allowed.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Denver's offense wasted no time getting going, scoring twice in the opening two minutes that included a goal from
Daniel Clark and then a Clark feed to
Watt Muir on the man-up made it 2-0 with 13:06 to go. St. John's got on the board in transition before
Marek Tzagournis sparked a 3-0 Denver run in 3:46 to make it 5-1 Pioneers with 7:18 to go. Tzagournis had an assist on Malawsky's first goal of the day, and then scored the next two off assists from
Chris Merageas and Malawsky.
St. John's Noah Plenn cut the Denver lead to three at the first quarter break.
Second Quarter:
On the other side of the quarter break, the Johnnies made it 5-3 a little more than three minutes into the quarter. Denver responded with another three-goal run on tallies from
Joe Taraboletti,
Lucas Klokiw and
Luke Barkimer to make it 8-3 with 7:45 remaining before halftime. Barkimer's goal was the first of his career.
St. John's had its first run, scoring three in 2:09 in the back half of the quarter to cut the Denver lead to 8-6 with 4:24 remaining.
Sawyer Hudgins closed out the first-half scoring with his first career goal to send Denver into the locker room with a three-goal lead.
Third Quarter:
Merageas opened the second half scoring with his first of the day, and then Malawsky became Denver's second multi-goal scorer on the man-up to push Denver's lead back to its biggest at five with 10:59 left in the third.
St. John's scored the final two of the quarter to trim its deficit to 11-8 heading into the final 15 minutes at Barton.
Fourth Quarter:
Malawsky scored twice 16 seconds apart to extend the Pioneers advantage back to five with 9:37 to play.
Chase Bruno became Denver's 10
th different goal scorers with 2:01 to go and
Jimmy Douglas closed out the Denver scoring with 59 seconds remaining to make it 15-8 in the final minute.
St. John's got one more tally off the ensuing faceoff to make it a 15-9 game at the final horn.
POSTGAME NOTES:
Denver improved to 13-0 all-time vs. St. John's.
The best man-down defense since the start of the 2024 season killed off its only penalty, while the man-up offense finished 2-4.
Denver had 11 different goal scorers on Saturday, its second time in double digits this season and the 26
th time since the start of the 2015 campaign.
DU improved to 132-33 at home since Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium was built in 2005.
Cody Malawsky recorded his fifth hat trick of the season and the 10
th of his career.
Malawsky had 4+ points for the fourth time this season and the ninth time in his career.
Marek Tzagournis finished with his third 3+ assist day of the year and the fifth of his career.
Tzagournis finished with 4+ points for the third time this season and the fifth time of his career.
Tzagournis' five points tied a career high.
Russell Overly now has 40 ground balls this season to tie for the 12
th most by a pole in a single season.
Overly finished with 5+ ground balls for the third time this season and of his career.
Daniel Clark produced his seventh man-up assist this season, and the 14
th of his career. Clark's 14 career man-up assists moves him into a tie with Austin French (2016-19) for eighth in the program's DI history.
UP NEXT: Denver will wrap-up its regular season road slate next Saturday when the Pioneers travel to Providence. Opening faceoff in Rhode Island is set for 12 p.m. ET/10 a.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
TICKETS: Tickets for the 2026 season are on sale now, and can be
purchased here.
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