Men's Lacrosse, Men's Sports

Denver Rides Frantic Fourth Quarter to 17-16 Win Over Cornell

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Denver men’s lacrosse (4-0) played the Cornell Big Red Saturday afternoon at a sold-out Peter Barton Stadium. Denver trailed 14-12 heading into the final quarter and outscored Cornell 5-2 to steal the win. JJ Sillstrop started the comeback. Noah Manning added a pair of clutch goals to draw even. Ryan Giles netted his first goal of the season to put DU up 16-15. Richie Connell scored the man-up goal to give Denver a two-goal margin at 4:55 and Denver’s defense allowed one goal down the stretch to the Big Red. This was a game of runs and DU caught fire in the fourth quarter, riding critical faceoff wins by Alec Stathekis.

The first quarter ended 3-3 with goals from three different players on each team making the scoresheet. DU’s Jack Tortolani opened up the scoring in the second quarter before Cornell reeled off three straight goals, 6-4. Michael Lampert stopped the run at 6:05 with a goal for Denver before Cornell scored a pair of goals. AJ Mercurio stopped the bleeding with a goal with 48 seconds remaining but Big Red countered yet again, 9-6, at the break. While the stats were close in the first half, Cornell goalie Wyatt Knust made key stops to hold a three-goal advantage.

It was standing room only for the second-largest crowd in Peter Barton Stadium history.

Each team enjoyed scoring runs in the third period. Casey Wilson opened up the scoring for Denver, 9-7. Cornell reeled off three straight goals to go up 11-7 as the Pioneers fell further behind the visitors. Denver scratched their way back into the game as JJ Sillstop scored along with a pair of goals from Noah Manning to pull within one goal, 11-10. Cornell responded with two goals in the final eight minutes and shut out Denver, going up 13-10.

In the fourth quarter,  DU’s Alec Stathakis won eight straight faceoffs dominating at the X. Denver made Big Red pay with the extra possessions. Manning and Sillstop scored in the first five minutes to draw even, 14-14. Cornell’s William Firth scored with 9:06 remaining to give Big Red the lead, 15-14. Over the next four minutes, Denver reeled off three straight goals by Manning, Giles and Connel to build a two-goal lead. Cornell scored a goal with 1:43 remaining but the Denver defense was stout and the Pioneers ran the clock to seize the comeback, 17-16, victory.

While the stats were relatively close between the two sides, Cornell went 0-4 on penalty opportunities and had 13 turnovers to Denver’s 7. Denver won 22 of 37 faceoffs but it was Stathekis’ eight straight faceoff wins in the fourth quarter that were the difference in the game.

 

 

 

 

5 thoughts on “Denver Rides Frantic Fourth Quarter to 17-16 Win Over Cornell”

  3. Fantastic game, beautiful weather, incredible day of lacrosse in Feb. Side note: where can I find those Richardson lacrosse hats with Boone hold a lacrosse stick?

    Reply

    1. Did you see a lot of Boone lax hats around? If only 1 or 2, they could be old. I can check for you if you respond. This is Dunker.

      Reply

      1. I feel like I saw a good amount on Sat, like 3 different color variations too. Been scouring the internet to try to find how to buy one.

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