BALTIMORE – The [15/13] University of Denver men’s lacrosse program came from four goals down in the fourth quarter for the first time since 2010 and got a sock trick from graduate student JJ Sillstrop to lead the Pioneers to a season-opening overtime win over [6/5] Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.
Sillstrop scored Denver’s final four goals of the game, including a buzzer beater off a feed from Stephen Avery to end regulation and the game-winner on the wing from a pass from Cody Malawsky in overtime to cap off his six-goal afternoon.
STATS LEADERS:
- In addition to a six-goal afternoon from Sillstrop, Denver got a three-point day in the first collegiate game for Malawsky on two goals and the game-winning helper. Jack Tortolani and Stephen Avery rounded out the multi-point getters with a goal and an assist apiece.
- Against a tough counterpart in the season opener, Alec Stathakis went 14-for-26 with four ground balls. SSDM Jake Edinger also picked up four grounders.
- The Pioneers turned it over just nine times in the contest, but four of those opportunities for Hop came in the clearing game.
- Denver outshot Hopkins 46-35, including 17-2 in the fourth quarter and 8-1 on target in the final frame.
- Malcolm Kleban made just eight saves in the contest, but came up with three huge stops when the Pios offense was struggling on the other end to keep the game within reach.
NOTES:
- Denver’s four-goal comeback in the fourth quarter was Denver’s first four-goal comeback in the final frame since coming from behind to beat Stony Brook 13-12 on March 20, 2010 after trailing 12-8 with 11:49 to go in regulation.
- The Pioneers hadn’t had a two-goal comeback in the fourth quarter since 2019 (at Towson) and hadn’t had a three-goal comeback since March 7, 2015 (home vs. No. 3 Notre Dame).
- Denver’s win was its first road win against a top-10 team since the Pioneers defeated No. 7 Ohio State in Columbus on March 20, 2022.
- The Pioneers improved to 74-87 in their Division I history against ranked opponents.
- DU is 20-16 in overtime in its Division I history, including 15-9 since Matt Brown became a full-time member of the staff in 2008.
- Denver is 9-2 in its last 11 games that have gone to overtime.
- JJ Sillstrop’s sock trick was the first of his career and brought his career total to 93 goals, seven away from becoming the ninth Pioneer to 100 goals in the program’s Division I history.
- Sillstrop’s sock trick was the first for Denver’s since Stephen Avery’s seven goals against Ohio State last season.
- Sillstrop passed Mike Law (1999-01) to move into 10th in career goals in the Pioneers Division I history, trailing Alex Demopoulos (2009-12) by just one for ninth in DU history.
- Denver improved to 19-7 all-time in season-openers, including winning its 12th-straight contest to start a season.
- The Pios also improved to 6-7 in season-openers outside of the state of Colorado, winning each of their last four.
- Having been on campus since he was a student-athlete from 2002-05, William G. Tierney Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Matt Brown earned a win in his first career game as head coach.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Alec Stathakis won the opening faceoff and Michael Lampert found Tortolani for the opening goal of the season to give the Pioneers the early lead. Hopkins responded with three straight, including one after a 30 second extra man opportunity to give the home team a 3-1 advantage.
After scoring his first goal of the season on the opening possession, Tortolani from the wing found Joshua Carlson up top who stung one to get on the scoresheet and cut the deficit to one at the media timeout (7:08).
Hopkins added another to double its lead before AJ Mercurio got his first of the season off another Stathakis faceoff win to make it 4-3 late in the opening quarter.
Johnathan Peshko rounded out the first quarter scoring with nine seconds to play in the period and give the Jays a 5-3 lead through 15 minutes.
Second Quarter:
Denver’s leading scorer Sillstrop got the Pioneers back-to-back goals to start the second quarter and quickly tie things back up at 5-5. Jack Tuttle assisted the second Sillstrop strike to set up the equalizing goal.
Hopkins was able to turn Denver over in the clear three times and get three goals off of it to take the Jays biggest lead of the day at 8-5 with 3:58 to go, a lead Hopkins would hold until the final second of regulation.
Malawsky got his first career goal, dodging from X before going air born across the crease and finishing before he landed in the crease to cut the deficit to 8-6.
Dylan Bauer scored for Hopkins with 9.6 seconds left, giving the Jays their second-straight quarter with a late goal to take a 9-6 lead into the intermission.
Third Quarter:
Hopkins made it 10-6 out of the halftime break before Ty Hussey found the back of the net for his first of the afternoon to make it 10-7. Jacob Angelus got his second of the quarter and completed the hat trick to make it 11-7 at the media timeout.
Kleban made some big saves down the stretch in the third to keep the Pios in it, but the defense couldn’t get it into a settled offensive possession and the two teams went into the fourth with the score 11-7 Hop.
Fourth Quarter:
Malawsky converted a feed from Noah Manning to cash in for the Pioneers on the man-up to trim the Hopkins lead down to three and open the fourth-quarter scoring.
Stephen Avery got his first goal of the day, dodging to his left hand to make it a two-goal game with 5:19 to play in the fourth.
Hopkins got its first goal in 18 minutes before Sillstrop dodged from X, drew a flag and bounced one between the goalie’s legs to cut the lead to two again.
Sillstrop converted a Lucas Klokiw feed to make it 12-11 before the Pioneers drew a two-minute penalty on Hopkins with two seconds to play to setup a dramatic finish. With a lot of congestion in and around the crease, Avery played it to Sillstrop near the top of the box on the near side. Sillstrop bounced home his fifth of the day as time expired to send the game to an extra session.
Overtime:
Following a stop on the defensive end in a DU man-up situation, the Pioneers cleared and called timeout. After the expiration of the penalty, Denver swung the ball around the box while the Hopkins defense was still getting set and Sillstrop was the last man in the half circle to get the ball and buried his sixth of the afternoon to win the game 2:04 into the overtime period.
UP NEXT:
Denver will open its 2024 home slate next Saturday when the Pioneers welcome the Air Force Falcons to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Opening faceoff for Matt Brown‘s first home game as head coach is set for 12 p.m. MT.