New Names, Same Results for Rebuilt Denver Defense

The names dotting Denver’s defense have changed. The math the Pioneers count on every year has not.

With a mix of newcomers young and old, part-time starters elevated to elder statesman roles and a goalie who parlayed a sensational summer into a stellar start, Denver has allowed just three goals over its first two games entering Saturday’s trip to Utah.

That stat would stand out against any competition. (For the record, the Pioneers routed Cleveland State 20-1 in their opener and then handled Air Force 10-2 last week.) And realistically, Denver (2-0) is going to get dinged a bit more as the season unfolds.

Yet for now, a foundational piece of the Pioneers’ philosophy is working exceptionally even if — or perhaps, more accurately, especially because — there is an eager defense filled with players establishing themselves at the college level.

“There’s seven of us,” defensive coordinator John Gallant said. “We preach that quite a bit, that it’s us seven. We really rely one everyone and their input of where they feel the most comfortable playing and how they feel the most comfortable playing. We put them in those situations in those situations to be successful.”

That Denver is thriving at that end is nothing new. The Pioneers placed in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense in 2023 and 2024, and even if their ranking slipped, they still only yielded 10 goals a game on the way to finishing 7-7 last spring.

One difference, though, is the absence of proven pieces. There’s no more Jimmy Freehill on close defense, no more Casey Wilson serving as one of the college game’s best short-stick defensive midfielders.

Yet when the Pioneers convened for fall ball, sophomore Gordon Reynolds quickly surmised things could be better than merely OK. He and redshirt junior Russell Overly both started eight games last season. Long pole Seamus Faulkner had extensive experience at Division II UIndy. Freshman William Hayes looked ready to contribute immediately.

In the short stick group, sophomore Sawyer Hudgins, like Reynolds a Mile High City native with experience in the Denver Elite club program, was ready for his belated college debut after missing all of last year with a knee injury. And sophomore Kaysey Choudry, a California product and a walk-on last season, was prepared to help, too.

“In the fall, we figured that we were going to lose some pieces and we were going to need to figure it out, but quickly we realized there’s going to be guys we can fill in,” Reynolds said. “These guys are great, and as long as we can build that chemistry as a team and as long as these guys buy in, which they definitely have, we could really be the backbone of this team and take us far this far.”

Gallant might have seen the seeds of it a few months earlier. He was on Canada’s staff at the World Lacrosse U20 Men’s Championship in South Korea and witnessed Grayson Manning’s coming-of-age tale unfold in real time.

Manning started three times last season as a freshman, and he posted a more-than-respectable .539 save percentage. His MVP turn, including a title-securing save in the final seconds of the championship game against the United States, provided a launching pad for this spring.

“Witnessing it, the success he had at the world level in July and August really has supported him,” Gallant said. “Coach David Metzbower does a tremendous job with our goalies, and he’s taken over a little bit from the Dillon Wards and Chris Sandersons and [Brett] Dobsons of the world, kind of the next Canadian field goalie, and he’s embraced that.”

A year of development in Denver’s program helped. Manning, whose brother Noah wrapped up his college career with the Pioneers last spring, was well-regarded before he arrived on campus. But there was still some technical issues to work through as he learned more about the position.

“Some of the stuff I was doing was holding me back a little bit, so we’ve been working a lot of fundamentals and also keeping that same mentality,” Grayson Manning said. “As a goalie, our job is to do whatever it takes to stop the ball. I was putting myself in spots that wasn’t necessarily giving me the best opportunity to do that. We’ve been going at it with the same mentality of doing whatever it takes, but getting my body and my mindset in the best spot to be able to do that.”

Manning owns a gaudy .913 save percentage through two games, all the while solidifying his place as an emotional fulcrum of the defense. That only serves to elevate the level of the guys in front of him, who thrive off hearing from Manning after a stellar stop.

And he’s had a few of them so far. Reynolds said Air Force probably should have had an extra four or five goals last week, only for Manning to snatch those chances on the way to a 14-save outing.

“We’re going to give up shots, we’re going to try to give up as few as possible, but it’s lacrosse,” Reynolds said. “They’re going to get opportunities. But knowing we have a guy like that behind us who’s going to stand on his head and save us in moments like that is pretty special.”

Now here’s an even more fascinating part: Denver has reworked itself on the fly in creative ways in recent weeks.

Chris Caldwell, who played in the Pioneers’ semifinal loss to Notre Dame in 2024 and started four games last season, suffered an upper-body injury in January and has not appeared in Denver’s first two games. While Gallant said he’s expected back soon, it did require some tinkering.

Brody Davis, a short-stick defensive midfielder the last two seasons, has grabbed a pole and played close defense in addition to a few shifts as a short stick against Air Force. And Sam Trumble, a redshirt junior who played in every game last season, has seen work as a long-stick midfielder on Denver’s man-down unit.

Gallant has extensive experience as a youth coach, and if there’s something he emphasizes nearly as much as “it’s us seven” on defense, it’s the value of learning as much as possible rather than settling for being a specialist.

The reward of that is obvious early this season.

“Your core guys, you’re looking for guys who want to compete and guys who want to develop and you’re looking for lacrosse players,” Gallant said. “When we have situations like we’ve faced and we have some injuries, there’s no panic. There’s no stress. There’s, ‘OK, you’re a lacrosse player,’ so you understand what we’re trying to accomplish whether your stick is six feet long or your stick is 40-plus inches.”

Gallant acknowledges things are a bit week-to-week for his unit, though it sounds as if quarter-to-quarter might be a more accurate description. Regardless, more adjustments will come when Caldwell and sophomore long pole Blake Kirschke (who started eight times last season) return from injuries.

Those guys will undoubtedly provide the Pioneers more answers. Not that they haven’t found solutions already.

“Sam picking up a pole on the man-down because he really understands that and has played it last year more than some of the younger guys who are new to it, and Brody Davis who is such a good athlete and can pick up a pole, pick up a shorty in whatever matchup we need is a massive help,” Reynolds said. “I think that’s been a big part of our defensive success.”

It’s not a group, though, content with two impressive games. Denver will see Cornell, Michigan, Ohio State, Syracuse, Duke and Georgetown in a six-game stretch starting later this month. Five of those teams made the postseason last year. Two played on the final weekend.

So even if the numbers look good now, the Pioneers know there is plenty still to improve. And it will take all seven of them on defense to do it.

“I think something that’s really good about this group is our ability to look forward,” Manning said. “We had a really good game on Saturday, we watched the game on Sunday, sent out some texts saying, ‘Good job,’ and then Monday it’s [on to] Utah. We’re not looking at the past and just looking at the future.”