Week five of Major League Lacrosse finally saw all six teams in action and that resulted in a shift in the standings.
The weekend kicked off with Denver taking on Boston and the Outlaws silenced the Cannons in a hotly contested 17-16 victory that moved them into first place. Denver came out firing in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 4-2 lead in front of a reported crowd of 3,765 on Boston’s home field. Boston scored six goals in the second quarter to tie the score 8-8 at halftime. Denver won the third quarter as they led 12-10. Despite outscoring Denver 6-5 in the fourth quarter, Boston failed to take the lead from Outlaws. Denver moved into first place while Boston fell into a tie for second with Atlanta. Denver faces Chesapeake in a top four matchup next while Boston takes on last place Dallas.
In a true what the flock moment, Atlanta scorched Chesapeake 19-10 as they moved up to second place and went a long way to showing that the Blaze are a playoff and possibly championship team. The game started with Chesapeake taking a 4-3 lead at the end of the first. Atlanta’s offense caught fire and scored seven goals in the second quarter and took a 10-5 lead at halftime. The Blaze keep up the heat on the Bayhawks as Chesapeake went scoreless in the third and Atlanta scored four goals. The 14-5 lead built by Atlanta in the third quarter proved too great for Chesapeake to overcome despite scoring five goals in the final quarter. Last season, Atlanta showed a tendency to let games like this get away from them. The season, the Blaze appear to have found a way to close out games and have a killer instinct to pour on the points which helps at the end of regular season. Atlanta meets Chesapeake next in a rematch as the Bayhawks look for revenge and the opportunity to move up from fourth place. Before facing Atlanta again, Chesapeake must tackle first place Denver in the annual Fourth of July Game in Denver.
New York earned its first win of the season as they moved out of last place and dropped winless Dallas into last place with a 13-9 victory. The game proved a very tight contest as both teams sought to gain a win and climb out of the bottom of the standings. The score at the end of the first was a 3-3 tie and that carried over to halftime as the score was tied at 6-6. New York asserted themselves in the second half and began pulling away as a 5-3 goal total gave the Lizards an 11-9 lead at the end of the third. Dallas failed to generate any points in the fourth while New York scored twice and earned their first victory. New York climbed over Dallas to move into fifth place and that dropped the Rattlers into sixth place. New York gets some time off before facing a hot Atlanta squad and the turnaround team of the season, Boston. Dallas next faces a Boston team smarting from their first loss of the season and looking to rebound.
