In the final game of the 2015 MLL season Sunday, in front of 6,448 fans, the Denver Outlaws completed a 15-14 comeback victory over the New York Lizards at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
The overtime victory pushes the Outlaws to 7-7 on the season. Drew Snyder scored the game winner, his fifth goal of the game, just twenty six seconds into overtime. John Grant Jr. pushed the game into OT by scoring two goals just thirty seconds apart with under a minute to play.
At 7-7, the Denver Outlaws failed to make the post-season for the first time in team history.
Goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman, who spent the entirety of his 9-year career with the Denver Outlaws, retired following the game.
Schwartzman finishes his career first all-time with an 11.83 career goals against average and 72 goalkeeper wins. He also racked up 5,727 minutes in the cage, second most in MLL history, and 1,353 saves, the third most ever. The two-time MLL Goalie of the Year helped lead Denver to their first MLL Championship in 2014, and holds the record for lowest goals against average in a single season, at 9.67.
John Grant Jr., whose father is also a lacrosse legend, is also transitioning towards retirement. The 40-year-old will begin a full-time job as the boys head lacrosse coach August 5, at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch.
Grant Jr. has been one of the best in the sport nearly two decades. Since 2010, his indoor team has been the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth, and he won the league’s most valuable player award for a second time in 2012. Since 2014, his outdoor team has been Major League Lacrosse’s Denver Outlaws, and he was the MVP in that league with the Rochester Rattlers in 2007 and 2008.
The veteran can undoubtedly still play, finishing in the top 10 in the league in scoring this past season, and isn’t ready to quit just yet.
“I’ve considered it,” he conceded via the Denver Post. “I’ve never said that before. It’s getting to the time where I’m not able to play the way I want to play, so that day is coming. I have two years left on my Mammoth contract, so we’ll see how that goes, and with the Outlaws, the MLL is just a year-to-year contract, so if they want me back next year, I’d like to give it another try.”
Grant Jr. was named the greatest professional lacrosse player of all-time by insidelacrosse.com. He will be on the Valor Christian campus full-time during the school day, helping out in other roles in the athletic department, such as strength and conditioning.
Bryce Rudnick, a Mile High Sports intern and CU-Boulder student, contributed to this report