GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport men's lacrosse team built a 6-1 lead after the first quarter on Wednesday afternoon, but had to hold on late for an 11-10 win over Colorado State-Pueblo at the DU Turf Field. The Panthers improved to 5-3 overall and 2-0 at home this season.
It looked like a runaway after 15 minutes as the Panthers scored early and often in the first quarter. DU scored the first four goals including a man-up and man-down goal.
Keelan McKouen had the man-up goal at 11:51 from
James Johnston.
Trey Zelinski scored his first goal of the season at 9:42 from
Dylan Day.
Austin Thompson scored his seventh of the season at 3:59 unassisted.
Chase Post scored his first goal of the season a man down at the 3:04 mark unassisted.
Trevor Thompson scored a man-up goal for CSU-Pueblo at 40 seconds left in the quarter, but then
Griffin Poll scored his first of the season nine seconds later and Day scored with 10 seconds left in the quarter for a 6-1 lead.
Jordan Caskenette assisted on both goals.
DU scored the first goal of the second quarter as Thompson got his second of the game from
Adam Smellie at 13:10. The Thunderwolves crept back into the game with the next three goals. Cameron Hancock scored the first two and Aryan Krause the latter at 6:23 of the quarter to make it 7-4. Day's 16th goal of the season at 3:10 from Thompson ended the first half scoring with DU ahead 8-4.
CSU-Pueblo rattled off three straight goals to start the third quarter and make it 8-7. Boston Dumas and Krause had man-up goals and Krause scored again unassisted at 2:21. The Panthers struggled to stay out of the penalty box throughout the game committing 11 penalties. The Thunderwolves scored four times with the extra man in the contest.
DU pulled ahead 11-7 with the next three goals coming from Day, Poll, and Thompson. The Thompson goal coming at 10:49 of the fourth quarter would be the final one for the Panthers. CSU-Pueblo made things interesting as Dylan Johnson scored at 9:45 followed by a man-up goal by Thompson from Logan Naves at 6:07. Naves scored with 28 seconds remaining but DU won the faceoff and ran out the clock.
The final shots favored the visitors 45-44 but the Panthers held a 31-23 edge in shots on goal. Davenport won 14-of-23 in the faceoff circle including a 7-2 advantage in the second half. Both goalkeepers were outstanding as
Daniel Milano made 13 saves for the Panthers and Ethan Ferrie recorded 20 saves for the Thunderwolves. Day and Thompson each had four points with three goals and one assist for the Panthers. Poll led the team with 10 groundballs.
