The Denver Outlaws completed the season-series sweep versus the Ohio Machine June 22 in impressive fashion, allowing only five goals in a 19-5 win at home.
“We did terrific defensively the whole game right from the start. We controlled their main weapons,” Head Coach Jim Stagnitta said. “…Our shortstick D-middies did a phenomenal job, and the fact that we were able to transition so quickly from defense to offense made a huge difference.”
Defending Major League Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Year Lee Zink shut down the Machine’s lead scorer Steele Stanwick, which spear-headed a record-setting defensive performance.
“[Lee Zink] played unbelievable on him (Steele Stanwick). [Stanwick] is a great player, and Zink totally handled him really well,” Rookie attackman Eric Law, who had a hat-trick in the game, said. “When you have a good faceoff guy and good defense you’re going to go a long way.”
Faceoff specialist Anthony Kelly was dominant in faceoffs, to say the least, winning 19 out of 27 attempts to keep possession away from Ohio. Kelly has been the Outlaws staple at the faceoff position this season, ranking third in the MLL.
“Anthony got us possessions early, and got us opportunities to get up on the scoreboard and relax and start to play in our comfort zone,” Stagnitta said about the faceoff specialist. “He certainly did that throughout the game. That consistency at the X gave us the ball for the majority of the game.”
The Denver offense came out firing on all cylinders, led by attackman Chris Bocklet’s third sock trick (six goals) of the season – the most 6-goal games in a single season in team history. Bocklet leads the team with 32 points off 26 goals and 6 assists, and is tied with Nationals’ midfielder Kevin Crowley for the league lead in goals.
Law and midfielder Drew Snider chipped in on the offensive effort with a hat trick each, as Denver had seven players find the back of the net agains Ohio.
“Our goal going into every game is to have assisted goals,” Bocklet said about the Outlaws solid team offensive production. “And, if you look at the spreadsheet, or stat sheet, a lot of our scores were off passes. I think we did a great job pushing the ball on transition.”
Bocklet started the scoring in the first quarter to kickoff a four-goal scoring streak that Ohio ended with a powerplay goal. Snider finished the scoring in the quarter with his second goal to end the first with a 5-1 lead.
The Machine struck quickly in the second, scoring a goal 15 seconds in to the quarter. Any comeback was thwarted, however, as the Outlaws scored seven goals before Ohio was able to stop the bleeding. The second-quarter scoring outburst was headed by Bocklet, who put in a hat trick in that quarter alone, as Denver went into halftime up 12-3.
“In these games a key part is momentum,” Bocklet said. “We kind of got a couple goals in a row there, and it kind of took momentum and we came out in the beginning fast and firing shots and good opportunities on the cage and like I said, it’s a game of runs.”
Midfielder Justin Turri hit a two-point shot five minutes into the third quarter, which was followed by goals from Law and Bocklet. While the Outlaws offense put up four goals, the defense stymied any Machine attack keeping them scoreless in the quarter to take a 14-3 lead into the fourth.
Former Outlaws attackman Connor Martin scored the Machine’s first goal of the half, as the two teams traded goals twice. Any signd of life for Ohio were crushed, as Bocklet nailed his sixth goal of the game ten-minutes into the quarter. Denver’s defense held steady the rest of the way, not allowing another goal to give the Outlaws their franchise-best 14th straight regular season win 19-5.
Denver remains at home June 29 to host the Charlotte Hounds, who are coming off an overtime win versus Chesapeake.
