The Denver Outlaws brought the fireworks on and off the field on the Fourth of July with a 24-12 trouncing of the Atlanta Blaze to improve to 7-2 on the season. The blowout win was headlined by a highlight reel field-length goal by Outlaws goalie Jack Kelly.

Kelly joined TJ Carpenter on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 to talk about his rare long-range strike.

“It’s funny. It kind of went viral. I’ve seen it everywhere and a bunch of people have been texting me. I guess you can say it’s something I’ve practiced,” the second-year goalie explained. “When we’re getting water or something I’ll throw a couple from the crease down to the other end just to see what happens, but I can’t say I’ve made that many in practice. It’s mostly a ‘throw it and see where it goes’. I was lucky enough [in the game] in front of a great crowd to have it curve in.”

When asked about how often that shot is successful, Kelly revealed that he had only made it one other time, in practice.

“This season I’ve probably taken 25 [shots] and maybe one has gone in in practice. It’s not a serious thing, it’s usually where I pick up a ball as I’m heading to the bench for our coach, BJ O’Hara, talk to us or just going to get some water,” Kelly said. “It’s something that doesn’t happen too often and like I said, it was lucky that I did it, especially on [July 4th], and there were a couple of other factors that played into it as well.”

Although Kelly was showered with praise from friends, family, and fans alike, he mentioned that some of his friends chided him about the luck involved in his first professional goal.

“Yeah a couple of my friends and family did [give me a hard time] and I said they’re probably right. There was a little bit of skill, a little bit of luck,” Kelly mentioned. “You have to be good to be lucky, and lucky to be good. I’ve heard that motto a couple times and I think it’s true. Definitely a little luck and a little skill, and some other factors like Adam [Ghitelman] looking for his water bottle, and it just happened to hit the net.”

Listen to the full interview with Kelly, including his thoughts on the national growth of lacrosse and the Fourth of July festivities in the podcast below.

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