Denver Outlaws Quotes
June 12, 2013 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Denver Outlaws News Release
Below is a transcript from Denver Outlaws Head Coach Jim Stagnitta's Week 7 MLL Media Conference Call on Wednesday, June 12. The Outlaws' Week 7 game notes can be downloaded from the team website
Head Coach Jim Stagnitta
On the win over Hamilton
"Not much different of an approach. I felt like we had a really good opportunity. (Hamilton's previous) game was on CBS Sports, so we had a chance to really kind of break that down and spend a little bit more time - not as a team, but as a staff - and particularly myself, spent some time looking at the film. I felt like we were able to prepare for what they do. As we had said, what they do is different from what everybody else does. I thought we really did a great job in defending that. Our defense was terrific and did exactly what we had worked on and practiced on Friday. They executed that well and on the offensive end, we really started to pick up the pace and try to take advantage of our two-way middies and our athleticism in the middle of the field. Those are the things that we stressed before the game. Except for a few times we shot ourselves in the foot, I was really pleased with the full game from beginning to end. Again, a few blips on the screen before halftime, which had nothing to do with Hamilton and had much to do with us. Overall, I thought we had a great opportunity, a great scout and a great chance to prepare. The guys, to their credit, executed that plan perfectly."
On Eric Law's performance against Hamilton "It was important for me and our plan moving forward to have some right-handers on attack who really could be a complement to Brendan (Mundorf) in knowing we have a great finisher in (Chris) Bocklet and (Zach) Greer when he's on attack. And Jeremy (Bolutus) has done a phenomenal job with that. Jeremy - the Jeremy Boltus I know and have seen - he is still only about 80 percent (healthy) I would say. He is going to get there when he gets there. He is going to be consistent. He has shown moments of brilliance. We were impressed with the overall game that Law has and he showed it not just early, but he showed it late. At halftime, Bocklet - it was not one of his best shooting halves - we had an opportunity to really pull away and I think he'll be the first one to admit that he had some opportunities. We started that second half and threw Eric in there and he immediately responded with a great off-ball cut. I think one of the reasons that he was able to integrate so well was just because of the way we play offense. If you are open and you are off-ball, our guys are going to give you the ball. We constantly talk about that - not the first shot, the best shot. He was the beneficiary of some of those. He had some great goals and great handles and the poise he showed was phenomenal. But what really made me do double takes was at the end of the game in the fourth quarter, he made about three or four looks with the ball in his stick that were really terrific. That just kind of leads me to believe we have somebody there who has the ability to give us the depth and give us everything that we need on that right-hand side. Between him and Jeremy, I feel like we are really starting to stabilize in that position."
On the rematch from last year's Championship game against Chesapeake this weekend "Last time we played them, they completely took us apart. We were outgunned, outmanned and outplayed. There were a lot of factors involved there, but they certainly got the best of us. A lot of the things we've tried to do as a team in the offseason - you have to shoot for the team to beat. Some of the things we've tried to do while building a team were to try to compete better with the Bayhawks. I think that's a credit to Dave (Cottle) and what they've done with their squad. We have to stop the midfielders first. First and foremost - I say stop, we need to control them - (Ben) Rubeor really hurt us last year in the playoffs. We will focus on trying to contain Ben and certainly (Steven) Brooks has always been a handful for us. We have to defend the two better than we have. That is something that they do a little better and a little differently than anyone else. Despite the fact that maybe they aren't as productive there as they were last year, they certainly are capable. We don't want to open up that floodgate. The key is just to keep their big, strong middies down the side and to be able to defend their off-ball play. (Drew) Westervelt did a great job last week and they design some great ways to get him his hands free. When you get that, he has a quick of a release as I've seen. Just being able to keep the middies down the side and play good off-ball defense - I think we were prepared a little bit for that from playing against Hamilton last week because they are so good off ball and our guys handled that, but a little bit different dynamic this week."
On Jesse Schwartzman's health "I have not heard anything that would make me think that he is not playing. By now I would have heard. Usually I would have heard from a trainer or from Tony (Seaman) or from Jesse. It was minor. As Jesse said to me, âCoach if this was a playoff game, I could stay in.' But we have a long season. Honestly, our other goalie, âCip (Charlie Cipriano) has been terrific. In practice, he has been great. We are very comfortable with him and it was a nice opportunity for him and he played very well. Our expectations are that Jesse will be in the goal."
On Drew Snider "When we made some of the moves in the offseason - the ones that everyone wonders why we make - we made those moves knowing that in some cases that Drew had the ability to be a very good midfielder in this league - an all-star midfielder. He is so athletic. He has been around lacrosse all his life. He has a great feel for the game. He is quick. We knew he could break people down from the wings and can play from defense to offense. What people didn't realize was just how great of a shooter he is. He is very accurate. He puts the ball in the right places and now he is just becoming more comfortable and more confident in what he's able to do against the best players in this league. He can break you down and he can beat you. The thing he does as well as any middie I think right now in the league is that he finishes."
On Brian Megill's MLL debut last week "He brought exactly what we were looking for. He picked up some tough ground balls. With him and O'Dougherty in the lineup, that gives us some real grit and toughness. They both kind of add to us what we all felt like we needed. We used him a lot at the pole last week because we didn't want to just send him in there in his first game against a team like Hamilton with the way they play off ball and he's still right out of college so he's used to opening up and putting his stick on the guy in the crease and getting ready to slide. If you do that against Hamilton, you aren't going to be very successful defensively. So, we used him up top. He did a great job of ground balls off the wing. He can cover, he runs the field well and he did get down in the offensive end and he did squeeze off a few shots. He'll get better at that decision making as we go. He is somebody - both he and Law stepping on the field at this level - both are in great shape finishing their (NCAA) seasons. Their skills are sharp, but they both performed extremely well. We are pretty excited. Every week we are getting closer and closer to what our lineup is going to be. I think we get deeper and more robust in that 25-man roster."
On Megill's role going forward "(That depends on) matchups. We played O'Dougherty up top two weeks ago against Boston - it just varies on matchups. Obviously a group like Chesapeake has some big, strong middies and probably makes most sense for us from a matchup standpoint when push comes to shove to have him up there on a couple of those big guys."
On whether any other rookies could see playing time this year "When we set out this year, we wanted 25 guys that we felt like we could use at any time. We got shorthanded last year down the stretch. We still want to see (Sam) Snow and we still want to see (Landon) Carr. We are going to see them. We aren't going to roll them out there against the Bayhawks yet, but we certainly are going to use them at some point this year and give them opportunities. They are both talented guys. We wanted to keep them in the fold and we want to be able to if we are fortunate enough to make it to that final four weekend, we want to have a group of 24 that we can call on any one of them to step up and play if we are lucky enough to get to Sunday."
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Major League Lacrosse Stories from June 12, 2013
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