The Denver Outlaws traveled to south Florida to take on the Florida Launch on Saturday. Denver came away with a 15-12 victory, and we led by a 16 save effort by Jesse Schwartzman. Three different Outlaws registered four points in the contest: Eric Law (3, 1), Jeremy Sieverts (3, 1), and John Grant (2, 2). The Launch got four points out of Kieran McArdle (1, 3) and Casey Powell (3, 1). Roman Lao-Gosney notched his first career hat trick in the losing effort.
In the offseason, Denver traded their backup goalkeeper, Charlie Cipriano to the Florida Launch for Dillon Ward. Well, Cipriano started the game for Florida, and Ward didn’t dress, but was on the sideline cheering his team on (having just finished his NLL season). Familiarity favored the Outlaws in the early going. Florida scored two of the game’s first three goal, but the rest of the first half was all Denver.
The Outlaws led 11-4 at the half. Eric Law, who has shown flashes of his former self this year, flourished with the return of John Grant, Jr. to the lineup. The chemistry these two have is a joy to watch. Grant seems to always know where Law is going to be (usually creeping on the backside) and is able to get him the ball consistently. Perhaps playing with so many Canadians at the University of Denver makes Law’s game well suited to Grant’s, but this is a pairing that bears a lot of fruit for the Outlaws.
(Sidebar: Thinking ahead long-term to when Grant retires, the best thing the Outlaws could do is keep both Wesley Berg and Dan Taylor in the stable. If Canadians can get the most out of a player like Law it seems only natural to keep things going in that direction.)
Overall, this game felt like a scene from the Blues Brothers: “We’re getting the band back together” was in full effect with the return of not only Grant, but Jeremy Noble and Cameron Holding as well. Having Chris O’Dougherty on the backend helped too.
Anthony Kelly won 10 of 15 first half faceoffs, which is why it seemed that the Outlaws had the ball the entire time. Kelly would finish 14 for 29 on the day.
Really, Michael Simon’s two-point goal with five seconds remaining in the first quarter pretty much told the story of the entire first half. The Outlaws struck early and often. Cipriano got chanced in the second quarter; he was replaced by Adam Fullerton.
Florida Launch head coach Stan Ross must have worked some magic at half time. The teams traded goals early in the third and then Florida went on a five goal run that spanned the third and fourth quarter, which included two of Roman Lao-Gosney’s three goals on the day.
In total, the Launch held the Outlaws scoreless for over eighteen minutes in the second half. The Launch outscored the Outlaws 4-2 in each of the third and fourth quarters, closing what had been a seven goal gap to three late in the fourth quarter.
A pair of Denver goals from Jeremy Sieverts and Drew Snider effectively put the icing on the cake, increasing the lead to five with under three minutes to play.
Florida’s comeback was too little too late. Roman Lao-Gosney and Casey Powell both scored in the final minute of play, securing hat tricks for each, but ultimately dropping the contest.
In related news for Florida on Saturday, Albany got knocked out the NCAA tournament, and finals were over on Friday. This means that Lyle Thompson could conceivably join the team as early as next weekend. Keep an eye on MLL transactions this week to see if Lyle and brother Miles will be suiting up for the Launch.
