Charlotte Hounds (1-3) at Denver Outlaws (4-0)
9:30 pm ET, Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colo.
TV: CBS Sports Network
The Hounds, who have struggled out of the gate and reside at the bottom of the Major League Lacrosse standings, take on the league’s best team in a rare Friday night game at MLL’s biggest venue.
The Outlaws sit atop the league standings, and take a 24-game regular-season winning streak–which covers the final six games of the 2012 season, their 14-0 run in 2013 and this year’s 4-0 start–into Friday’s game.
Charlotte will field a slightly different lineup, with at least four of their picks from the 2014 MLL college draft–Loyola midfielder Pat Laconi, Duke faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler, Loyola attacker Justin Ward and Duke defender Henry Lobb–suited up, joining Towson midfielder Thomas DeNapoli.
The Hounds will also have All-MLL attacker Matt Danowski, also an assistant coach on Duke’s men’s lacrosse team, back in the lineup after missing two games during the Blue Devils’ run to their second straight NCAA tournament championship.
Denver is also getting its 2014 draft picks into the lineup. Midfielder Jeremy Noble, the Outlaws’ first-round pick from the University of Denver, and Bryant midfielder Colin Dunster, their fourth-round pick, have both been added to the 25-man active roster, and will practice with the team before a decision is made whether to add them to the 19-man game roster.
What the Hounds are saying: “It certainly wasn’t one of our best efforts (losing to the Boston Cannons on May 17) coming out. I was certainly disappointed coming off the effort we had against Chesapeake.… (But) I like how our talent’s moving in a certain direction, and we’re going to keep grinding. We were 1-3 last year at this same point. Great effort is what we’re going to be focused on this weekend.”–Charlotte head coach Mike Cerino
What the Outlaws are saying: “On paper, (the Hounds) are awfully strong. I think they finally will have a lot of their pieces in place. They have had people missing–as we all have–but certainly they have had some of their key guys in and out of thje lineup with other obligations. I presume they activated some of their really outstanding draft picks they have. We will expect to be at their best and I’m sure they will be and we’re going to be (at our best) ourselves.”–Denver head coach B.J. O’Hara
Outlook: The Outlaws are 4-0 all-time in regular-season games against Charlotte, but the Hounds did knock off Denver in the MLL playoffs last year. While that loss could serve as a motivator for the Outlaws, they won’t really need it against the Hounds, who are still exhibiting the inconsistency they showed last year. Outlaws 14, Hounds 10
