Pioneers Fall to Blue Devils

Pioneers Fall to Blue Devils
Freshman Gajic tallies first hat trick of season

DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 12-ranked University of Denver men’s lacrosse team dropped its second straight game of the season as it fell 13-9 to No. 6 Duke on Sunday afternoon.

Junior Brett Koll (Fort Collins, Colo.) led Denver (1-2, 0-0 GWLL) with five points, two goals and three assists. Freshman Ilija Gajic (Burnaby, B.C.) recorded three goals for his first hat trick and added one assist for four points on the day. Zach Greer led Duke (2-0, 0-0 ACC) with five points.

Duke got out to a 2-0 lead after the first quarter before Gajic opened the second quarter with a goal to put DU on the scoreboard. The Blue Devils scored two unanswered goals before sophomore Brad Richardson (Langley, B.C.) cut the deficit to two. Gajic would record his second goal of the game with 2:32 remaining in first half. Denver trailed 6-3 at the break.

Koll cut the Duke lead to two just under two minutes into the second half but Duke scored two consecutive unassisted goals before Gajic tallied his third goal to keep the Pioneers in striking distance of the Blue Devils.

DU and Duke matched each other in goal production over the final quarter of the match-up as Koll scored once and senior Ryan Zordani (Littleton, Colo.) added two goals.

Senior Jeb Hollingsworth (Darien, Conn.) stopped 12 shots in the loss. Denver converted on 2-of-4 extra-man opportunities, both goals by Gajic. Duke led in faceoffs 18-8 and ground balls 49-39. Junior Jon Paulson (Flemington, N.J.) tallied DU’s other goal.

Denver opens its home season in the Mile High City on Saturday, March 3 against Villanova at 1:30 p.m. in the Face-Off Classic. Air Force faces UMBC at 11 a.m. to begin the event on Saturday.