Di Miller, Beat Writer Denver Outlaws
Lacrosse is Awesome
On Thursday afternoon the Denver Outlaws (4-4) hosted the 2017 MLL Champions the Ohio Machine (2-4). It was Kids Camp Day at Sports Authority Field, the weather was beautiful and the 6,388 fans who came out to watch their home team were not disappointed. Denver dominated the game and easily defeated the Machine. Final Score: Outlaws 17—Machine 6.
Starting out the first, Zach Currier (2G, 1A) notched back-to-back unassisted goals (2:10 and 2:59) to get the Outlaws on the board. Davey Emala (3G) teamed up with Connor Cannizzaro at the 3:42 mark for the only point in the frame for Ohio. Denver would dominate the remainder of the first quarter with goals from Eric Law (2G, 2A); Drew Snider (2G, 2A) with back-to-back goals; Kylor Bellistri (4G, 2) who would score in each of the four frames; and Mikie Schlosser (3G). Kyle Bernlohr (Ohio) would stop nine of 16 shots on goal; and his counterpart Jack Kelly stopped four of five. Score at the end of one: Denver 7—Ohio 1.
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The second quarter was a battle of the defenses with only three goals in the frame. It would take over 10 minutes for the scoring drought to end. Romar Dennis (1G) with his perfect shooting form would hit net unassisted at 10:04. Jake Bernhardt found a way to break through the Denver defense only 43 seconds letter with an unassisted shot of his own. Closing out the half, Bellistri would find net on a power-play goal with 28 seconds left on the ticker off the feed from Snider. Score at the end of two: Outlaws 9—Machine 2.
Denver would come of the locker room just as strong as they were before the break not having skipped a beat. At the 3:43 mark Matt Kavanagh (3A, 1A) would hit his first of the afternoon; followed by Law at 4:13; and another from Kavanagh putting the Outlaws up 12-2. Ohio would hit back with Marcus Holman getting his only point of the game with a nice unassisted goal at 9:30. Bellistri
would notch his hat-trick with the assist from Law for Denver’s final point in the third. The Machine would close it out with Emala getting his second with the assist from Holman. Denver still had a healthy lead 13-4 with 15 to go.
With the commanding lead, Denver would give net-minder Kelly a rest putting veteran Dillon Ward in to stand between the pipes. The Outlaws would control the fourth quarter allowing Ohio to only put two on the board. Denver would start it off with Schlosser keeping possession from the midfield mark while a Machine defender had him in a hold 38 seconds in and the penalty waved off with the goal. Ohio would hit back-to-back with Emala and Justin Guterding teaming up at the 4:11 mark. Guterding would score an unassisted goal of his own at 7:20 and that would be it for Ohio. Denver would close out the game with scores from Bellistri; Schlosser with another unassisted goal and Kavanagh both notching their hat-tricks on the day. Final Score: Denver 17—Machine 6.
The game had very few penalties in fact there was one in the first; two in the second; and two in the third. The fourth quarter was penalty free. At the face-off “X” the teams were evenly matched with Tommy Kelly for Denver going 15-27; and Greg Puskuldjian for Ohio winning 12-27. In net, Ohio’s Kyle Bernlohr was 9-26 on saves (.655 SV%); and Jack Kelly for Denver going 12-16 (.725SV%). Dillon Ward was 2-4 in the save column in the last 15 minutes.
The Machine have lost three in a row, all on the road. Their woes continue much as Denver’s did after winning the MLL Championship in 2014 when they didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The Machine with this loss are now 2-4 on the season and will head home on June 9, 2018 to host the Chesapeake Bayhawks (4-2) for Super Hero Night.
Denver has the weekend off and will be back at home on Saturday June 16, 2018 to host the Florida Launch (2-5).
Di Miller, Beat Writer Denver Outlaws
Lacrosse is Awesome