Di Miller, Correspondent Denver Outlaws
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Pretty Instant
On Saturday June 29, the Denver Outlaws (4-1) would topple one of the two unbeaten teams in the league, the Boston Cannons (3-1) on what started out as a cloudy rainy day in Quincy, MA in front of 3,765 Cannons strong fans who weathered a first quarter down pour and saw one heck of a great back and forth contest with the only disappointing part…the outcome. Bill O’Brien made his Cannons debut yesterday and had never played a professional outdoor lacrosse game until this contest, but he’s not new to the game by any stretch. The teams would trade goals throughout with the score changing hands multiple times and the Outlaws ending up with the ball in the final 15.9 to take the win. Final Score: Outlaws 17—Cannons 16.
Boston would get two in the first, one from league leader Mark Cockerton with a lefty sniper shot (4G); and another from Kyle Jackson (4G) with a nice wide angle shot over the shoulder of Dillon Ward. Denver would see goals from Christ Aslanian with a nice jump shot going away from the cage to tie it up (3G, 1A); Mikie Schlosser beat Nick Morocco with the short hand drive (1G); Brendan Kavanagh would get the one hand pass from John Grant, Jr., at X right up the middle (3G, 2A); and #13 (no name listed on the jersey) but it was one of their defensive long poles off the face dodge with a far side low shot with 1:32 left in the frame. Score at the end of the first: Denver 4—Boston 2.
The downpour that overtook the first quarter would let up in the second and the sun would return. Denver would start off the frame with one from Kavanagh as he spun off the check of Matt Dziama to start it off. Tim Edwards (1G) would stop the run for Denver with a bounce shot and stutter step to score (1st goal of the season); Dziama (1G) would be next and would take it all the way with a clean look, dip and drop ripping it past Ward. Cockerton would score again capping off their three goal run tying the game at 5 apiece. Ryan Lee (4G) would send a nice back handed shot on the door step to beer Marrocco over the shoulder; John Grant, Jr. (1G, 4A) would get his first and only goal in traffic; and Kavanagh (hat-trick) would close out the run over the shoulder putting Denver up by three 8-5. Challen Rogers (1G) would halt the run from up close; rookie John Uppgren (1G) with a nice spin dodge behind the cage where he changed direction twice to beat his defender to score over the right side; and Cockerton would be the last to score as he would snatch the turnover to tie it up at 8 apiece giving him the hat-trick on the wide open net. The game had been back and forth; north and south lacrosse; with no penalties. Score at the end of two: Outlaws 8—Cannons 8.
The third quarter was a mirror of the first with Denver outscoring Boston four to two; and the fourth Boston would outscore Denver six to five. Denver would see goals from Aslanian (two); Brian Begley (1G); Zach Currier (1G, 1A); Zach Runberg (1G, 1A); Will Snider (1G); and Lee (three). Boston would see goals from Will Sands (1G, 1A); Connor O’Hara (1G); Jackson (three); Zed Williams (2G, 1A); and Cockerton.
The last 59 seconds is when it got really chippy. The Outlaws would have gone up by two with the next goal 17-15. Zach Currier from Denver would come from behind the cage with one of his signature “Air Currier” goal attempts. It looked to be a good goal which would have put the Outlaws up by two. However, after review the goal was overturned and the score remained 16-15. Boston would tie it up with 42 seconds on the clock at 16 apiece. On the ensuing face-off, Denver’s Max Adler (21-37 FOW) would win at the dot and on the scrum rookie Zach Runberg would come away with ball and on the fast break netted what would turn out to be the game winner putting the Outlaws up 17-16. Denver would win the final face-off and control the ball for the remaining 15.9 seconds giving Boston their first loss on the season. Final Score: Outlaws 17—Cannons 16.
GAME STATS:
Outlaws: 26 SOG; 39 GB; FO 16-37; 23 TO
Cannons: 29 SOG: 28 GB; FO 21-37; 18 TO
Outlaws Dillon Ward—25 SOG; 9 SV; 16 GA; .640 SV%
Cannons Nick Marrocco—29 SOG; 12 SV; 17 GA; .586 SV%
NEXT UP:
The Denver Outlaws (4-1) will host the Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-1) for the Annual July 4th Fireworks show in Denver, CO, game time 9:00 p.m. EST. You can catch this game for free on www.watchstadium.com
The Boston Cannons (3-1) will head down to Dallas on Sunday July 7, game time 1:30 p.m. EST to face the Rattlers (0-5) who are hoping to seek redemption for their loss to the Cannons in their first meeting and are in desperate need for win #1. You can watch this game for free on www.laxsportsnetwork.com
Di Miller, Correspondent Denver Outlaws
Lacrosse is Awesome©