By: Di Miller, Beat Writer Denver Outlaws
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Denver Outlaws (1-0) opened their season at home against the Ohio Machine on a cold and rainy day in the Mile-High City. But the die-hard fans who braved the cold to see their team in action were treated to a spectacular showing of high velocity lacrosse. With the win, the Outlaws are now 50-15 at home. Final Score: Denver 17—Ohio 16.
Ryan LaPlante would make his MLL debut against the Machine. He started out slowly in the game, but once he got settled, fans got to see first-hand why he was chosen to fill the shoes of Jesse Schwartzman. LaPlante was on the DU Men’s Lacrosse team when they won their first ever NCAA DI Championship. His former coach Trevor Tierney had been the Outlaws first goalie before Jesse Schwartzman would take over between the pipes. LaPlante would end the day with a .531 SV%; handling 17-32 SOG; and was also quick behind the net picking up a ground ball in the third allowing Noah Molnar to score his first of the year.
The first quarter would start with Outlaws Brent Hiken winning the opening face-off. Off a roll move and feed from Jeremy Sieverts, Drew Snider would make a quick shot goal only 41 seconds in. But Ohio would fire back at 1:57 with a hot left side shot high to low from Peter Baum. The field was slippery due to the past four days of rain and snow in Denver, but both teams were adapting. Kyle Harrison would score next off a shot on the run, down the alley high to high at 4:26. The Machine would score again off a top to top shot all alone from LSM Jackson Place at 6:33. Hiken would win the ensuing face-off for Denver and make a quick-break, and pass to Mike Bocklet who scored stick-side high to low at 6:39. Ohio had scored three goals in a row before Denver had stopped the run. But Harrison came back at 8:23 with a nice two-point goal (assist Steele Stanwick). The Outlaws rookie Nicholas Tintle would be the first to chalk up a penalty at 10:49 with a push from behind. This allowed Marcus Holman to score on the man-up running straight up the field, and hitting top left at 11:13 (assist Tom Schreiber). LaPlante finally made his first save with about a minute left in the quarter, high to high. Score at the end of the first: Ohio 6—Denver 2.
Starting off the second, Outlaws would put in face-off rookie Thomas Kelly who would win the scuffle at “X”. Snider would score his second of the day on the run, right down the alley on a left-hand shot off the feed from Eric Law only 29 seconds in. LaPlante began to settle in a little over two minutes into the second making three nice saves in a row. Greg Melaugh would be the next to score as the Outlaws went on a 4-0 run. Melaugh would score on the run at 3:20, off a strong take against Dominique Alexander scoring low right corner. Law would be the next to score for the Outlaws off the feed from Snider down the door step at 5:19. Snider would get his third of the game at 6:27 off a step and shoot, burying it top-shelf with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. Snider would be called for a slash at 10:53 after LaPlante had made yet another nice save. Ohio on the man-up opportunity for the second time in the contest couldn’t capitalize. Holman took the shot and hit Max Schmidt, LSM for the Outlaws in the collar-bone and he went down. Fortunately Schmidt was able to walk off the field unassisted. The Machine would score again at 13:29 with a pass out front from Stanwick to Holman for a high-side pick inside and their first goal of the quarter ending the Outlaws four-goal run. Mike Bocklet with only 42 seconds left in the first half took a wide angle shot (assist Sieverts), hesitated, looked off and shot finding an opening left side low. The Outlaws would give away a goal in an unsettled situation when LaPlante couldn’t get back from behind the goal line and the Machine took advantage with an upper corner shot from Jake Bernhardt low to high at 14:33. Shots on goal were even at the end of the second quarter at 15 apiece; both net-minders were 8-15 on saves; but Denver was ahead by a wide margin with 12-16 on face-offs. Score at the end of two: Ohio 8—Denver 7.
Ohio would start off the third quarter with a strong left shot from Schreiber pegging the upper corner at 1:44. Ohio had created a lot of separation on offense with sharp passes and strong defense. Down two, the Machine would take a shot on goal with the ball going behind the net. LaPlante made a heads up play scooping the ground ball and feeding it to Molnar on the breakaway. Molnar stopped, shot and scored at 6:44. It was then that Jimmy Bitter of the Machine and Chris Bocklet of the Outlaws would both be called for illegal sticks. At 7:44, Mike Bocklet double-teamed came around the back side of the net, shot one handed and scored over the top left corner for the hat-trick. Ohio would come back with a three goal run from Bitter, his first at 8:31 driving past Matt Bocklet with a nice face dodge putting it past LaPlante. He would score again at 9:44 and 10:17 for the hat-trick and three goals in one minute and 36 seconds. On the third goal of Bitter’s hat-trick he came around the net back side, faked a shot on Tintle and dove along the crease to put it past LaPlante. All three goals were unassisted. Denver was not able to slide to defend Bitter due to his speed causing the three goal explosion. Mike MacDonald of the Machine would get a little bit of room on Molnar to put it in the back of the net at 11:29. Ohio had put four goals on the board as the Outlaws looked sloppy on defense, had uncaused turnovers and cross-field mis-feeds. On the next face-off it would the Outlaws stopping the Machine’s scoring run when Mike Bocklet took Bernhardt one-on-one to improve his angle and score a beautiful behind-the-back goal at 12:51. Law would get his second of the game at 13:23 off a quick pass from Snider down the left side to find an open spot and put it past Fullerton. Sieverts would beat Schreiber and shoot over the left shoulder of Fullerton with only 17 seconds left. Greg Puskulgian would win the final face-off of the third, raced down the field making the pass to Stanwick who buried it between the legs of LaPlante. Score at the end of the third: Ohio 14—Denver 12.
Again Ohio would waste no time in putting another point on the board. On the run Stanwick scored off the feed from Alexander, a nice pass, catch and score with the bouncer by LaPlante only 37 seconds in. Snider, on the run would shoot a bullet past Fullerton beating him with a quick step dodge around Dan Groot shooting from the right and scoring at 2:47, his fourth of the game. Law would be the next to score with the assist from the long-sticks fighting for the ground ball at midfield. They would pass the ball to Chris Bocklet who sent it to Law across the field scoring at 4:57. The next goal would come from Denver when Mike Bocklet attempted a shot only to have the defender knock him from behind, the ball would come loose and fall into (C ) Bocklet’s stick surprising Fullerton with the shot at 7:41 to tie the game. But Baum would score for Ohio at 8:52 off the reset when he was a step ahead of Mike Simon putting the Machine up by one. There was a delayed penalty off a behind the back push with possession by Snider, putting the Outlaws a man down with only 3:53 left in the game. Fortunately for the Outlaws, Ohio missed the opportunity and Denver would get the ball back with only two minutes left on the clock off a wild shot. Sieverts and Snider headed onto the field, and off the flip-toss from Sieverts, Snider would come back with a two-point laser down the alley at 13:30. Ohio had slowed their play and Denver took advantage. After the goal, Denver would fight for the ball on the face-off, scooped the ground ball but turned it over with just over a minute left. Denver caused a forced turn-over with only 59 seconds remaining and with only 43 seconds remaining on the clock, Snider would pass the ball which was picked off by the Machine. He tried to force it down the middle of the field to Bocklet and Ohio would regain possession. The Machine would call the time-out to settle the team and work on their strategy to win the game. But it wasn’t meant to be as the Outlaws defense was extremely tight in the last nine seconds and kept the Machine out of net. Final score: Denver 17—Ohio 16.
Ohio had pumped the brakes and slow played the ball with three minutes left on the clock, losing their momentum. Something you can’t do against Denver as they have come back many a time from behind.
MVP of the game goes to Drew Snider with 5 goals (one 2-pt); and 2 assists giving him eight on the day.
LaPlante in his major league debut would come away with 17-32 saves for a .531 SV%.
Denver heads to Ohio next weekend to face the Machine on May 8, 2016.
Di Miller, Beat Writer Denver Outlaws
Lacrosse is Awesome