Denver Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals for First Time Since 2018

DENVER —  The Denver men’s lacrosse team was mad — furious, even — that it blew a chance to win the Big East tournament title after a first-round loss to Villanova last week.

After dethroning Georgetown and securing their first Big East regular season championship since 2021, the Pioneers felt like they missed a chance to send a message ahead of their 13th trip to the NCAA tournament.

They took out their frustrations Saturday on Michigan and reiterated their championship aspirations with a 16-11 first-round win at sold-out Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

“There was some honesty being thrown out there,” Pioneers coach Matt Brown said of the aftermath of the Big East setback. “It wasn’t pretty all the time and it got heated. But as I told them last Thursday, we’re not going to sit there and just hope we get in the NCAA tournament. We needed to get better, and we needed to improve in multiple areas across our whole team. I thought we did that this week in practice and that’s why we got the result we did.”

Denver set the tone early, starting with a goal from Mic Kelly less than 90 seconds after the opening faceoff. Michigan’s Ryan Cohen tied the game on a shot between the goalie Malcolm Kleban’s legs, but it would be the last time the Wolverines would score for nearly 20 minutes.

Denver outscored Michigan 7-1 in the first quarter and parlayed that into an 8-0 run that kept the Wolverines from coming within striking distance despite a second-half surge.

After a season where Brown said his team struggled with slow starts — including a 4-0 deficit against Villanova in the first quarter — his team channeled that frustration into stronger execution in all phases.

It started on the defensive end for the Pioneers, where Jack DiBenedetto forced three key turnovers in a seven-minute span of the first half and Kleban notched 10 saves. That rolled into a strong transition game and, ultimately, an offense out for blood.

“It was hard to come back against a team like Villanova and we focused on not putting ourselves in that position again,” Brown said. “Obviously, playing at home with these fans and this atmosphere, it was a little bit easier to make it happen.”

After Kelly’s opening salvo, he added another goal roughly one minute later and Richie Connell followed up with his first score, flashing in front of the crease and burying a goal in the back of the net.

Kelly took a break from scoring to feed Cody Malawsky for a goal, then Michael Lampert fired in a laser to stretch the lead to 5-1. Kleban kept the rally going, shutting down a wraparound attempt, then diving for the back line to switch possession to the Pioneers. Malawsky added yet another goal, firing from a crowd to make it 6-1, then JJ Sillstrop added a marker in transition to make it 7-1.

Things cooled off to start the second quarter with more than four scoreless minutes where Michigan held the bulk of the possession, but Denver repeatedly shut the door. The Pioneers once again struck first, with Connell chopping in a bouncing goal to extend the lead even further. Casey Wilson pushed Denver’s run to its furthest extent, catching a long pass wide-open in the attacking zone and making the lead 9-1.

The movement and speed of the Denver attack were key, Kelly said, helping shift the defense and create space for shots.

“We wanted to dodge hard and draw double teams,” the junior midfielder said. “We were able to do that — dodge hard, move the ball and whoever scores, scores.”

The Wolverines broke the eight-goal run on a marker from Aidan Mulholland and, after some back-and-forth, the Pioneers took a 10-3 lead into the break.

Sillstrop struck first in the second half, but from there, Michigan made its push, powered by two goals from Justin Tiernan and one each from Cathal Roberts, Michael Boehm and Cohen.

It was Kelly who broke Michigan’s 5-0 run and a nearly eight-minute scoreless stretch for Denver and Malawsky added another to make it 13-8. Kleban turned away an open scoring opportunity for Michigan at the end of the third quarter to fire up the crowd and preserve the Pioneers’ advantage.

For the fourth time, Denver scored first in a quarter, starting the fourth frame with a long goal from Wilson. Ty Hussey added another less than four minutes later to give Denver a 15-8 lead before the Wolverines got two goals back and the teams traded markers — and offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties — late.

Denver will play either Towson or Syracuse in the NCAA quarterfinals next Sunday in Towson, Maryland.

“We’re going to enjoy this one because it was a big moment for us,” Brown said. “We’re heading back to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018. Luckily, we’ve already been to Baltimore three times this year, so it’s like a second home for us. We’ll continue to correct a few different things, see who we play, hit the road and enjoy another week together.”