DENVER — Even for teams with short memories, it can be impossible to completely flush particularly painful losses.
One year ago, Johns Hopkins opened the season against the Denver and spent much the game at Homewood Field dominating shots and ground balls and led 11-7 after three quarters. But in the final frame, the Pioneers outshot the Blue Jays 17-2 and held an 8-3 edge on ground balls. DU erased Hopkins’ four-goal lead, scoring twice in the final 44 seconds to force overtime, where they won 13-12.
It was the Pioneers’ largest fourth-quarter comeback in 14 years and it’s one that stuck with Blue Jays coach Peter Milliman and his team.
“There’s a lot of motivation from the guys who are on that team, guys who saw it, even guys who weren’t here but knew because they watched it,” Milliman said. “Last year is last year. It was a good game on their part and we made some mistakes at the end, so there certainly was a point of focus to execute down the stretch in this game.”
The Blue Jays got some measure of revenge Saturday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver, pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat the Pioneers 13-10. The battle between top-10 teams in the USA Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 was a scrappy curtain-raiser for both squads, with spurts of offense contrasted by physical defense. Although the 2025 version didn’t include late dramatics of last year’s contest, it did feature an early comeback attempt from DU.
In the first quarter, even though faceoffs heavily favored the Pioneers early with DU’s Michael Kraus winning four of five in the first quarter, turnovers and ground balls tilted possession and shots to the Blue Jays. While the Pios got on the board first, Chuck Rawson, Dylan Bauer, Matt Collison and Jimmy Ayers combined on a four-goal rally before the first break to give Hopkins a 4-1 lead.
From there, DU came roaring back, with Marek Tzagournis, Cody Malawsky, Lucas Klokiw, Mic Kelly and Andrew Atchison netting five of the game’s next six goals to give the Pioneers a 6-5 lead with 5:27 left in the second quarter. Johns Hopkins knotted it 6-6 on Stuart Phillip’s marker less than 90 seconds later and eventually led 7-6 at halftime on a Russell Melendez missile.
Malawsky would strike first for Denver after halftime to tie the game again, but Hunter Chauvette’s answer secured a Johns Hopkins’ lead that would extend to the final whistle. Melendez would score three times in the second half and Rawson twice to put the game away.
“Offensive efficiency is something we’re focused on and getting better at,” Milliman said. “I don’t know if I’d say we were great at it, but for game one it was good progress.”
