Denver men’s lacrosse returned to Peter Barton Stadium to open the 2026 season. The Cleveland State Vikings were the foils for the home opener and they provided little resistance to a sharp Denver team. Denver struck early and often, putting the visitors in a deep hole. Cleveland finally scored late in the third quarter but it was all Pioneers in the 20-1 rout.
DU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead. Lucas Klokiw, Marek Tzagournis, and Cody Malawsky all took part in the quick strikes. A man-up goal by Rory Graham buried the Vikings, 4-0. Midway through the first quarter, Malawsky struck again. The Toyota T-shirts-for-goals promotion looked to be at risk of running out of inventory before halftime. With 7:16 left of the Viking battering, Malawski made it a hat trick before the seats were warm. A minute later, Gordon Reynolds got his first Pioneer career goal, 7-0. With five minutes left in Q1, yet another quick strike, 8-0, as Rory Graham bookended his first goal. Graham’s goal ended a quarter of pure domination.
At 11:03 Denver continued their scoring streak as Lucas Klokiw found paydirt. That was followed by a fast break goal from the left flank by Chris Merageas. Another streaking goal on the breakout led to a feed from Malawski and stuff from Daniel Clark, 11-0. At 5:25, another snipe into a tight window by Chris Merageas from the short side made it a dozen, 12-0.
Denver continued its scoring streak into the third period, extending the rout to 18-0. The Vikings finally solved Denver with a turnaround target by Will Adair, 18-1. Denver immediately countered to extinguish Cleveland State’s brief euphoria. Jimmy Douglas and Wyatt Hurd capped the public spanking, 20-1.
Sure, this was Cleveland State, only DI in lacrosse since 2017 but DU looked solid. The Pioneers took care of the ball, passed crisply, defended well and played relatively error-free ball. Cody Malawski and Watt Muir finished with hat tricks.
Overall, a great start to the 2026 season for Denver men’s lacrosse. . Next up is Air Force next Saturday at Peter Barton.
Very surprised Cleveland State has a lacrosse team and travels to Denver (expensive) for a game.
The Cleveland coach is Bill Tierney’s son-in-law. Denver played them for 4 or 5 years until Covid.