Brian Langtry made an early impact with his goal scoring and a late impact with a bone-jarring body check amid the Denver Outlaws’ 22-14 pounding of Chicago on Wednesday night at Invesco Field at Mile High.
Langtry’s hit on goaltender Harry Alford drew a roar from the fireworks crowd of 19,743, which broke the Major League Lacrosse attendance record of 15,981 set in 2006 by the Outlaws.
Although Alford was 10 yards out of the crease, Langtry’s hit was late and deemed illegal. Yet Langtry was satisfied with the outcome because Machine defender Michael Culver also was assessed a penalty – for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“I wanted to send a message,” Langtry said. “I don’t like the way they’ve been cross-checking me in the head.”
While scoring two of his three goals in the first 4 1/2 minutes, Langtry sent another message: There is life left in his 31-year- old legs.
“They were not really sliding too fast to me,” he said. “I guess they think I’m just an old guy. So I got a couple of nice looks and it worked well. We have so many weapons, we were clicking.”
There was a stretch in which Chicago (1-6) scored four consecutive goals, including a 2- pointer, to leave Denver trailing 6-3. But the first of a game-high five goals by attackman Brendan Mundorf drew Denver within 6-4 and goals by Mundorf and former Maryland-Baltimore County teammate Drew Westervelt tied it 6-6. Denver took the lead for good on rookie Scott Sowanick’s running shot.
Outlaws rookie goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman grew stronger as the game wore on, including five saves in the third quarter. With Denver pulling away late on a 5-0 run, Parker native Alex Smith replaced Schwartzman and made four saves while allowing one goal.
It was the home debut of Outlaws head coach Brian Reese, the general manager who took over the lead duties from Jim Beardmore last week. Beardmore was demoted to associate head coach.
“The change is not much,” Langtry said. “It was the players; we were not playing as good as we should. Sometimes, mixing it up helps out. But we still have some tough teams coming up, so the jury is still out.”
With consecutive wins against MLL’s worst team, Denver improved to 4-3 at the all-star break.
Footnotes
Wednesday’s crowd is believed to be the largest ever worldwide for a pro lacrosse game. … Geoff Snider scored two goals and dominated the faceoffs for Denver, winning 25-of-38. … Matt Hanna, who did not play in the previous game, scored consecutive goals in the fourth quarter. On the first, he emerged with the loose ball from a mash of shoving players and fired it in. On the other, he caught a cross-crease pass from Mundorf and shot before Alford could move. … Jeff Sonke scored three goals, his first multigoal game since the first two of the season, when he combined for 10.
Chicago 6 2 5 1 – 14
Denver 4 9 4 5 – 22
Goals: Chicago, Iannucci 4, Leveille 3, Schmidt 2, Heim 1, Morris 1, Culver 1, Deckelbaum 1; Denver, Mundorf 5, Law 3, Langtry 3, Sonke 3, Snider 2, Hanna 2, Cittadino 1, Westervelt 1, Brown 1, Sowanick 1. 2-point goal: Schmidt. Assists: Chicago, Hall 2, Schmidt, Morris; Denver, Westervelt 2, Mundorf, Law, Snider, Sonke, Sowanick. Goalies: Chicago, Alford 15 saves-22 goals allowed; Denver, Schwartzman 16-12, Smith, 4-1. A – 19,743.
