Week 4 of the Major League Lacrosse season brought upon the home opener for the Denver Outlaws. Coming off of the first championship in franchise history in 2014 meant the home opener would be a special weekend. After practice Saturday night, we were treated to a first class team dinner/championship celebration at Texas de Brazil. The evening was filled with 2014 highlight tapes, speeches (GM Tony Seaman stole the show), handing out rings, and stuffing ourselves with the all you can eat Brazilian meats. Huge shout out to the Outlaw’s ownership and front office for a true capstone to the 2014 season. After watching the snooze fest that was the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, it was off to bed for a good night’s rest in preparation for game #3 vs the Charlotte Hounds.
After playing our first two games on the road, it was great to get back to Sports Authority Field. The venue, atmosphere, and crowd is unlike anything else in Major League Lacrosse. The first quarter was very back and forth with both teams feeling each other out. It seemed like we finally relaxed in the second quarter and started playing Outlaws lacrosse. We outscored the Hounds 7-3 in the second quarter and took a 9-5 lead into halftime.
The message at halftime from Coach O’Hara was to stay on them. Thus far we haven’t been a great second half team and it is important we buck that trend early in the season. After giving up two quick goals in the 3rd quarter, we went on our second 4 goal run of the game to take a 13-7 lead going into the 4th quarter.
Unfortunately, we had a bit of a let up in the 4th quarter. We allowed Charlotte to win the 4th quarter 5-2, but we still prevailed for a 15-12 win. Even though we didn’t play well in the 4th quarter, any win in Major League Lacrosse is a big win and it was great to start out 1-0 at home.
This game was special for several reasons:
- Before the game the 2014 championship banned was unveiled and hung.
- Four Outlaws notched hat tricks- Greg Melaugh, Eric Law, Jeremy Sieverts, Drew Snider
- My teammate for two years at Lehigh, Dan Taylor, who I was fortunate enough to win back to back Patriot League Championships with, made his MLL debut. It was great to get to suit up with him again and even greater to see him score his first MLL goal.
- Most importantly, we won.
This weekend we face a tough Rochester squad in what is sure to be a charged game with it being a rematch of the 2014 championship game. Tune into ESPN3 at 1pm EST to catch the action.
Until next time,
Noah Molnar
Denver Outlaws #12
Instagram: Noahm12
Twitter: Noah12Molnar
