When the Denver Pioneers Men’s Lacrosse team hired offensive guru and genius Dave Metzbower to replace Matt Brown as offensive coordinator when the latter was promoted to head coach last summer, defense was the furthest thing from most fans’ minds. Surely, if Denver would return to Championship Weekend for the first time since 2017, it would be because of the unrivaled offensive minds that the Pioneers had on staff, right? In some ways, yes, but on this day, against the 4th-seeded Syracuse Orange in the NCAA quarterfinals in Baltimore, the 5th-seeded Pioneers rode their elite defense and goaltending to a 10-8 victory. Denver’s first-ever victory over the Orange sent the Pioneers through to next weekend’s Final Four at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, on the same field where they won their first title in 2015.

For the first three quarters, Syracuse had no answers for what Denver was throwing at them defensively. Last weekend, when the Orange thrashed the Towson Tigers 20-15 thanks to a 9-1 third quarter, they took advantage of the Tigers’ defensive aggression that saw them double-team the ball and it opened up the field for all kinds of Syracuse creativity. Denver’s 2nd-ranked scoring defense (behind, interestingly enough, Towson) learned the necessary lessons from Towson’s struggles and refused to double and slide which prevented any kind of creative ball movement by the NCAA’s 3rd-best scoring offense. It was a masterclass in defensive coverage and pressure and they held the Orange to just three goals to the tune of an 8-3 lead through 41 minutes.

At the other end of the field on offense, Denver was held to just four goals in the first half. Syracuse saw what Denver’s D was doing and nearly matched them possession for possession and turnover for turnover. By the end of an evenly played first half, the Pioneers had a slim 4-3 lead thanks to four different goal-scorers (Mic Kelly, Michael Lampert, Joshua Carlson, and Ty Hussey) while both defenses and goaltenders put on a clinic.

The third quarter, though, was a completely different story. Whatever Syracuse’s defense did in the first half that stifled the Pioneers’ creativity and scoring prowess, it fell apart quickly. Just 30 seconds into the second half, Cody Malawsky scored his first of the game to ignite a 4-0 Pioneers run which extended the lead to 8-3. The Orange ended the run to make it 8-5 late in the third but Denver entered the 4th quarter up 10-5, outscoring the Orange 6-2 in the quarter, and never looked back.

Colorado Mammoth lacrosse legend and Syracuse head coach Gary Gait, for his part, did everything he could to slow the Pioneers down, including challenging two Denver goals in the third quarter. On Malawsky’s second half-opening goal that made it 5-3, Gait challenged the call on the field, contending that the ball never fully crossed the goal line. After a lengthy review that based on the angles shown by ESPN seemed at best inconclusive, the referees confirmed the call on the field and the goal stood.

Later, with under a minute left in the quarter, Michael Lampert beat Orange goaltender through the five-hole as the shot clock ended to make it 10-5 but Gait and his staff believed that the ball didn’t leave Lampert’s stick before the shot clock hit 0. Another very lengthy review but the result was the same – there was inconclusive evidence to overturn the call. 10-5.

As it turned out, those two calls were the difference as the Pioneers won by two.

Rather than step on the Orange’s throats and try to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, Denver opted to run out as much clock as possible every time they touched the ball in the final quarter. And it nearly came back to haunt them. Syracuse attempted to come back with a furious rally. They scored three times (Denver scored zero in the quarter) and hit the post once (both teams hit the post twice in the game). DU goalie Malcolm Kleban, who stopped 10 of Syracuse’s 18 shots on goal, made two key saves in the final quarter, including one on a shot by Jake Stevens with just 1:13 left to maintain the Pioneers’ two-goal lead.

Thanks to the Pioneers’ stout defensive effort and timely saves by Kleban, Denver ran out the final few seconds, and the celebration of the program’s first trip to Championship Weekend since 2017 was underway.

Sure, Brown’s and Metzbower’s combined genius certainly helped spur the 5-0 run over the second and third quarters and allowed the Pios to score 10 times in just 45 minutes against an elite, well-coached Syracuse team. But it was the championship-level effort by Denver’s defense and goaltending that won the day and sent the Pioneers through to the national semifinals, which marked the first time since 2017 and just the second time ever that Denver’s hockey and men’s lacrosse teams advanced to their respective semifinals in the same year.

The road for the Pioneers doesn’t get any easier from here, though, as a rematch of the 2015 national semifinal against the defending national champion and longtime western rival Notre Dame (who has made a valiant effort to duck Denver in the regular season in recent years) awaits in Philly. The Irish boast the #1 scoring offense and #4 scoring defense in the country and, as the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, they look poised to remain on top and claim a second-straight title. But if Denver can replicate their performance from the first three quarters against Syracuse across a full 60 minutes against Notre Dame, they might just find themselves staring face-to-face with a second national championship.

Top photo credit: Dennis Nett | Syracuse.com