The hairs on DU men’s lacrosse Head Coach Jamie Munro must be getting grayer by the weekend as the Pioneers were involved in their sixth one-goal game of the season this past Saturday at No. 7 Notre Dame.

Sophomore Ilija Gajic scored the game-winning goal with 40 seconds left to defeat the Irish 9-8 on Sunday at Toyota Park in Chicago to open Great Western Lacrosse League play with a win.

“It felt great to be a part of a great comeback,” said Jamie Munro. “Our team showed great resolve.”

Denver was down 3-0 when freshman Jamie Lincoln scored in the first quarter with an assist from Gajic, who was recently named the Great Western Lacrosse League Player of the Week after recording six points in two games.

Denver was down 6-1, but came back strong in the second half to tie up the game.

“I can’t take credit for rallying them. People ask what I said at half time. All I said was some strategic comments. I was calm and commented that we’d been strong in the second half all year, and we should expect to be that way again,” said Munro.

Notre Dame pulled ahead in the third quarter with a 7-6 lead, but junior Cliff Smith put in his second goal of the game to tie it up. In the fourth quarter Denver was down 8-7 when Lincoln scored his third goal of the game, his third hat trick in three games.

The game was tied with a little over six minutes left on the clock. Gajic scored with only 40 seconds remaining in the game to put the Pioneers in the lead for the first time. Notre Dame had a shot on goal with only 19 seconds remaining, but junior goalie Austin Konkel stopped the shot, keeping Denver in the lead. He had 11 saves in the game.

Lincoln leads the team in scoring with 26 goals and three assists for 29 points while Gajic has 19 points on 10 goals and nine assists and Smith has 14 goals and four assists for 18 points.

The game was the Pioneers’ second of the season at a neutral site. Earlier this season DU lost to Cornell 20-7 in Dallas, Texas. This past weekend in Chicago 3,482 fans attended the game.

The victory over Notre Dame was the fourth win in a row for the Pioneers as they head into the last home games of the season this weekend.

“Every league game is a big deal,” said Munro. “We have Quinnipiac College on Friday night.”

The Pioneers host Quinnipiac on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Bellarmine on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.