DENVER – The fourth-seeded [RV/-] University of Denver men's lacrosse program will take on the No. 1 seed [10/12] Georgetown in the first of two BIG EAST Semifinals on Thursday at Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium. Opening faceoff is set for 4:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. MT, and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The winner of the two semifinals will meet in the BIG EAST Championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET/12 p.m. MT on ESPNU.
SERIES HISTORY:
Denver is 10-8 in the head-to-head series, but the Hoyas have won seven of the last 10 encounters. Georgetown is 4-1 in the five previous meetings in the BIG EAST Tournament, with all five of the previous match-ups coming in the BIG EAST Final. The Hoyas won the regular season game 17-5, breaking a streak of back-to-back wins for Denver in the series.
SERIES HISTORY
LAST TIME OUT:
Cody Malawsky scored five times,
Marek Tzagournis added a five-point game and
Grayson Manning made 15 stops to lead the Pioneers to a 10-9 win in a de facto BIG EAST Quarterfinal last Friday night at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
FULL RECAP
DENVER IN THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT:
Denver is 12-11 all-time in conference tournaments, including a 9-8 mark since joining the BIG EAST in 2014. Denver won back-to-back tournament titles in 2014 and 2015, but have not won the tournament since. The Pioneers also won the 2011 ECAC Tournament title.
ON THIS DATE
Denver is 4-0 on April 30 in its Division I history.
The last time the BIG EAST Tournament was played on April 30 and May 2 was the last time the Pios won (2015) before going on to win the national championship.
MANNING WITHIN REACH OF SINGLE-SEASON SAVES RECORD
Sophomore goalie
Grayson Manning is 12 saves away from tying and 13 away from capturing the Pioneers DI single-season saves record currently held by Jamie Faus' 187 saves in the 2011 season.
MALAWSKY HITS CENTURY MARK
April 24 vs. Marquette,
Cody Malawsky scored five in the DU win.
Malawsky became the 25th Pioneer to reach 100 career points
Malawsky is tied for the 12th fastest to reach the century mark.
UNFRIENDLY PIPES
Denver has hit some unlucky pipes by a margin of 205-152in the last eight seasons, but the luck has begun to turn in 2026 with opponents hitting 38 posts compared to Denver's 14.
RESET!
2026: Denver is 10-for-36 in reset chances this year, while its opponents are 16-for-62.
Utah was 0-for-8 in reset chances in DU's one-goal win in February while the Pioneers converted on their only reset opportunity.
Georgetown was 5-8 on resets, the most goals allowed on resets for DU since tracking began in 2022.
DENVER AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Denver is 80-98 in its DI history against teams in the USILA Top-20.
Denver is 32-30 at home against ranked opponents.
Denver is 14-30 vs. teams in the USILA Top-5, with the last win coming in the 2024 NCAA Quarterfinals vs. No. 4 Syracuse.
Denver's 2024 overtime win at Johns Hopkins and its March 20, 2022 win at No. 7 Ohio State are the program's two top-10 road wins since a trip to Notre Dame in 2020, the final game before the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Pioneers beat [7] Duke in a neutral site game in Texas on 3/22/25.
POSTING 0'S
Denver has shut its opponent out in a school record 13 different quarters this season, compared to opponents blanking Denver in just four frames this year.
The Pioneers held three teams to multiple quarters without a goal in Cleveland State (3), Air Force (2) and Duke (2).
Denver's defense held opponents without a goal in just eight quarters in all of 2025.
The Pioneers output this season broke the previous-best mark for shutout quarters of 12 set in 2003 and 2006.
OVERLY CLEANING UP THE GROUND
Redshirt junior close defenseman
Russell Overly has picked up a career-high 45 ground balls in the opening 13 games of the season.
Overly is tied for 10th in program history in single-season GBs by a pole.
Overly has more than double the ground balls this year than the next closest field player on the Denver roster.
DENVER'S MAN-UP D IN LAST THREE SEASONS
In 44 games since the start of the 2024 season, Denver has allowed just 18 man-up goals on opponents 98 opportunities for a man-down kill-percentage of 81.6%.
The total is second for the fewest man-down goals in the country since the start of 2024 (Maryland - 17).
Denver's penalty kill rate is the highest in the country over that span (81.6).
In 2026 alone, Denver ranked 2nd in man-up kill percentage at 88.0% (22-for-25).
In Denver's 7-3 win over Georgetown on April 12, 2025 the Pios man-down unit killed off four of four penalties, and forced two shot clock violations while a man down.
MAN-UP HELPERS
Junior
Daniel Clark leads the Pioneers with seven man-up assists this season, to bring his career total to 14.
Clark ranks eighth in program history in career man-up assists (14). Ethan Walker has the most in program history with 27 in 70 games.
Clark's seven man-up assists in 2026 ties for the 11th most in program history (season and career leaders on page 25). Tyler Pace holds the program record with 13 en-route to the national title in 2015.
Clark has multiple man-up assists in a game twice this season (vs. Michigan, vs. Syracuse), tying for the fourth-most multi man-up assists games in a single season. Pace had four multi man-up assist games in 2015.
#PROPIOS - NLL
Following the results of last weekend's quarterfinals, at least one of Denver's #ProPios is guaranteed to lift the NLL Cup in 2026.
Trevor Baptiste went 26-29 with 17 loose balls and Wes Berg had six of his seven points after halftime in San Diego's comeback and upset over Colorado on Saturday night at Ball Arena.
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