Looking for their first NCAA Tournament quarterfinal trip in six years, the DU Pioneers left no doubt Saturday afternoon.
The University of Denver men’s lacrosse team set the tone early with seven goals in the opening 15 minutes of its first-round NCAA Tournament game against Michigan, then kept the Wolverines at arm’s length the rest of the way to claim a 16-11 win at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
The Pioneers will face either No. 4 seed Syracuse or Towson next weekend in their eighth NCAA quarterfinal appearance, with first-year head coach Matt Brown one win away from leading DU to its first Final Four since 2017.
Unlike the week before when the Pios (12-3) dropped their conference tournament opener to Villanova, there were no hiccups in Brown’s first NCAA Tournament game. The tournament’s No. 5 seed was ready to rock from the opening whistle.
Junior midfielder Mic Kelly and freshman attacker Cody Malawsky scored two goals apiece in the first period, staking DU to a 7-1 lead. Then graduate attacker Richie Connell and junior short stick defensive midfielder Casey Wilson netted back-to-back goals to start the second period, as the fifth-seeded Pios established a 9-1 advantage that was way too much for the Wolverines (10-7) to overcome.
Grad student attacker JJ Sillstrop, Malawsky and Kelly all finished with hat tricks, while the latter also tacked on two assists. Malawsky and Kelly’s third goals of the game came in back-to-back fashion in the final four minutes of the third period, after Michigan scored five straight to pull within three at 11-8 with 8:50 left in the frame.
That was as close as the Wolverines would get the rest of the way.
Wilson and Connell both netted a pair of goals, while junior midfielder Joshua Carlson had three assists, junior midfielder Jack Tortolani added two assists, grad student Alec Stathakis picked up 12 ground balls and senior goaltender Malcolm Kleban made 10 saves.
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