Key Takeaways Now That Eric Law Outlaws and Chaos Wins the OT Thriller

Denver Outlaws 15, Philadelphia Water Dogs 13

Topher Adams: The pieces are starting to fall into place for the young Outlaws

After a disappointing 17-4 loss to the New York Atlas, the Outlaws were faced with a moment of reflection. Early results show they learned the right lessons from that loss. The problems that plagued them against the Bulls were barely noticeable in Fairfield, and Denver hovered around .500 on the year.

The offense has been inconsistent all year, but on Friday they showed what they can do when they play well. Brennan O’Neill scored a hat-trick and Graham Bundy tore the Waterdogs apart with his shot from outside.

Those two are the foundation of the attacking game and when they play well, Denver plays well too.

The biggest thing the Outlaws have to build on in this match is the supporting cast. After four weeks of chopping and changing, the pieces are starting to fall into place. It starts with Eric Wetwhose experienced insight and off-ball skills fitted him like a glove.

In midfield, undrafted rookie Dalton Young had a breakout game with two goals and three assists. He has flashed promise all season and against Philadelphia he finally lived up to his potential.

When the ball is moving and the shooters are looking good, Denver is one of the scariest teams in the league. The Outlaws shot a season-high 31.6% from the field. Against New York, they shot 10.3%. Getting good shots and burying them is the difference for this team.

The next event in Denver: vs. Boston Cannons (Saturday, July 27, 5:30 p.m. ET)

Wyatt Miller: Deep ball plagues Waterdogs again, they fall back to 1-5

Every time the Waterdogs lost the two-point battle, they lost the game. In each of those losses, the difference in two-point production was equal to or greater than the scoring margin. That trend continued Friday, when the Outlaws hit three of their four two-point shots in the win.

It started in the first quarter with Ryan Terefenkoof all people, who made his first two-pointer in his fourth season as a two-way short-stick defensive midfielder. The assist came from a fellow defenseman Mike Manley in transition, and it held up after revision, which also included a Ben Randall pole goal off the board. That was a huge three-point shot that gave Denver the momentum.

There was one big difference for the Waterdogs in this game, and that was the offensive two-point production. In the second quarter, Connor Kelly scored the Waterdogs’ second two-pointer of the season, and the first by an offensive player. But it wasn’t enough. The Waterdogs didn’t score in the final eight and a half minutes, finishing the game 2-for-7 (28.6%) from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, the Outlaws continued to come from deep. Bundy gave a shooting lesson with two two-point goals and a goal that Dogs head coach Bill Tierney thought should have been a two, but the officials said he had a toe on the line.

“It’s not that we weren’t prepared for Bundy,” Tierney said.

“We talked about it on team Zoom last week, we talked about it on team Zoom this week. … You just have to know where these guys are. They’ve got some big guys doing everything.”

The Outlaws shot the lights out against a Waterdogs team that Tierney felt was “defensively out of sync.” Another tough game from Dillon Department against the two balls did not help the Waterdogs’ attack, which again outpaced the competition in terms of efficiency (24.4% compared to 31.6%).

Now that we’re 1-5, it’s time to think about the Waterdogs’ path to the playoffs, which isn’t as clear as it used to be.

The next event in Philadelphia: vs. New York Atlas (Sunday, July 28, 3:00 p.m. ET)

Carolina Chaos 10, Maryland Whipsnakes 9 (OT)

Hayden Lewis: Blaze Riorden’s 18 saves pave the way for Carolina’s overtime victory

It hasn’t been a great year for the Chaos in attack, but one thing has remained consistent: an excellent defence, supported by great goalkeeping.

Friday night was no different.

Blaze Rivers stole the show with an 18-save performance, helping the Whipsnakes score nine goals. Riorden’s success catapulted him to ninth place on the all-time saves list (973).

“He’s like an alien in the cage,” said head coach and general manager Andy Towers. “He’s always consistent at a position that’s probably the hardest position in sports to be consistent at.”

Riorden’s fantastic play is the basis for all of Carolina’s strategies.

“We feel like 12 goals is a magic number for us, given the fact we have Blaze Riorden in goal,” Towers said.

In this game, the Chaos needed only 10, with rookie Shane Knobloch the winning game in overtime. With three straight conference games coming up, each game will become more intense as the playoffs approach, and the magic number 12 will be paramount.

Next up for Carolina: vs. California Redwoods (Saturday, July 27, 3:00 p.m. ET)

Adam Lamberti: Whipsnakes on wrong side of overtime match

Long story short, the Whipsnakes faced a red-hot Riorden in this match.

18 saves recorded, including a fantastic save on Mike Chanenchuk In overtime, the Whipsnakes had no answer to the Chaos goalkeeper.

It was quite surprising that the Whipsnakes were evenly matched early in the game, shooting a terrible 4-for-21 (19%) in the first half and relying on their strong defense to stay in the game.

Matt Dunn had his best game of the year as a defender Josh Byrne and holding him to one goal, while Brendan Krebs had another solid outing with 13 saves and Joe Nardella won faceoffs with a percentage of 68%.

The story of this game was the lack of offensive production.

Although Riorden performed exceptionally well in this game, the Whipsnakes still committed 19 turnovers and settled for the first shot, which wasn’t necessarily the best shot.

“The two things we have to do are get better shooters and we have to reduce turnovers,” head coach Jim Stagnitta said in the postgame press conference.

If they do those two things, we’ll have seen what this Whipsnakes team is capable of.

Next up for Maryland: vs. California Redwoods (Sunday, July 28, 5:30 p.m. ET)