The Denver Outlaws will cap off their record-setting regular season on the road, facing the Hamilton Nationals in a battle between the top two teams in Major League Lacrosse.
“Our goal is to win this game to keep this roll and this run going and I think mentally it can be an impact on both sides,” Head Coach Jim Stagnitta said. “If we win, it can continue this great run and if we lose the game there would be a lot of things we could learn from and take to the finals.”
The Outlaws steam-rolled the Nationals June 8 in the Mile High City 22-9, however Stagnitta is not expecting to face the same Hamilton team this time around.
“Obviously, Hamilton is a very talented team; they are a different team than when we played them last time,” Stagnitta said. “We were watching them on film this week, they’ve got some different players out there, a few more Americans than last time, so it’s kind of changed their style of play a little bit.”
With the No. 1 seed in Championship weekend locked down the Outlaws are looking to finish strong with a win versus Hamilton, but are taking some preventative measures to ensure everyone is healthy for post-season play.
“Mundorf is a little banged up, he was a late scratch this past weekend and giving him a month off before Championship Weekend makes a lot of sense, especially since we have his blessing with it…” Stagnitta said about resting the All Star. “We’ve won two weeks in a row without Mundorf scoring in the Bayhawks game and not playing in this last game.”
“So, I think we are on track and starting to accomplish what we had hoped for in building this team – that Brendan was a very important piece of it, but was not the piece we needed day in and day out to be successful,” Stagnitta added about the depth on the Denver roster.
The suffocating Denver defense will have its hands full facing Nationals midfielders Kevin Crowley (35 goals, 13 assists) and Joe Walters (20 goals, 24 assists). With Mundorf out of the line up that will open up opportunities for scoring to come from a variety of other weapons, which can certainly give the Hamilton defense problems of their own.
While the Outlaws do not have anything to lose in the game – as they have sealed the No. 1 spot – a win for Hamilton would put more space between them and third place Chesapeake.
Denver and Hamilton face off at 3 p.m. EST at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario.
