- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,253,076
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
For two-and-a-half games of lacrosse, Denver was rocketing towards collapse and a lost season. As the skies parted and rain ceased over the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium, a new light shined through for the Outlaws.
A goalie switch, an offensive supernova, and the heart and hustle of a former Buckeye powered Denver to a 14-13 win over the Maryland Whipsnakes on Saturday afternoon, ending a two-game losing streak and putting the Outlaws back at .500 for the season.
“I think it’s a big relief for a lot of us,” head coach Tim Soudan said. “This kind of gives us a foundation to work forward from.”
The first half was the same disparate affair Denver had seen most of the last month.
The Outlaws allowed 10 scores in the first half, with Logan McNaney struggling for the third consecutive game. He made just two saves (18.2%), and Soudan was forced to make a tough call: benching the reigning Oren Lyons Goalie of the Year.
Soudan said postgame that McNaney has been dealing with a medical situation that kept him from being at 100%.
For the second week in a row, Owen McElroy relieved McNaney for the final two quarters. Unlike a week ago, when the game was already out of reach, the goalie switch breathed new life into the Denver defense.
The Outlaws held Maryland without a goal for nearly 20 minutes of game action — including a scoreless third quarter — with McElroy finishing with four saves at 57.1%.
With the defense finally holding serve, the burden of victory fell on the shoulders of the offense. Without Pat Kavanagh and Jared Bernhardt in the lineup, Dalton Young was thrust into the attack line from the start for the first time this season.
He more than met the moment, potting a career-high five goals. While Denver was still flailing in the first half, Young kept the Outlaws alive with gritty and tough goals. His finishing was the perfect complement to the dynamism afoot on the opposite wing.
For the first nine games of the season, everyone was waiting for Brennan O’Neill to take over. He’d been good throughout the year, especially as a playmaker, but at no point had he felt like Brennan O’Neill. A leviathan, a goliath. Unstoppable.
That’s the O’Neill that took the field in Columbus.
HULK SMASH.
Initially ruled a one-pointer, Coach Soudan challenged the call—and it was overturned to a two-point goal. pic.twitter.com/423Hvrt3V5
— Denver Outlaws (@DenverOutlaws) August 1, 2026
His six points (4G, 1T, 1A) were a season high, but the how was the O’Neill touch. When he drove at his defender, there was nothing Maryland could do. Contested, on-the-run howitzers from the wing, including a two-pointer by the slimmest of margins, is the vintage O’Neill.
Denver had new life, and an eight-goal run put the Outlaws on track for their fifth win of the season. But for a moment, it was nearly all for naught. The Whipsnakes rallied with three late goals, taking a one-goal lead late in the fourth quarter. Improvements were clear, but now Denver needed a result.
First to step up was Evan Plunkett, whose rebound goal tied the game at 13. Then in the dying moments, it was Ryan Terefenko. The captain, playing on the campus of his beloved alma mater, was the one to put away a fast break in the final seconds of the game.
Underpinning all of the drama of Saturday’s performance was a field tilt at the faceoff stripe. With no Petey LaSalla due to injuries, Maryland opted not to dress a faceoff specialist, opting to, “trade 32 [seconds] for 52 [seconds],” per head coach Jim Stagnitta.
One night earlier, the Carolina Chaos won with that same strategy, beating the Boston Cannons despite losing every single faceoff.
That strategy worked for Maryland in the first half, but as Luke Wierman started to win the ball forward, the field tilted in Denver’s favor. Wierman finished the day 25-for-28 from the stripe with a pair of assists.
“It’s tough to have a disparity in the 32-second clocks,” Soudan said, “but all in all, I think it helped us tonight because we got some good opportunities in transition. In the 32-second clock, we ended up scoring probably five goals total, so that was a good situation for us.”
For Denver, there will be questions aplenty for the final two weeks of the season. A looming goalie controversy and the ever-present injury issues — now including defenseman Ben Randall, who went down Saturday — will be front of mind heading into next weekend in Boston.
But for at least this week, the Outlaws get a chance to go back to the drawing board with something to build on. Sometimes all it takes is that spark.
Continue reading...
