Aug. 7, 2007

from press releases and staff reports

The Denver Outlaws and Philadelphia Barrage must have known what was at stake.

Controlling their own destinies, the two teams which met a year ago for the MLL championship sealed the last two playoff berths Saturday - Philadelphia with a convincing 21-11 victory over the Washington Bayhawks and Denver with a comeback 11-10 win over the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Riptide.

In the latter game, the Outlaws scored three goals in a 48-second span to take a late one-goal lead. After L.A. tied it, Brendan Mundorf then faked Riptide goalie Mickey Jarboe with about two minutes remaining for the game-winning goal.

"It's really an emotional win because of all we've gone through this year," Outlaws goalie Trevor Tierney told the Denver Post, citing the time he spent sidelined by a concussion and a 17-5 loss to L.A. earlier in the season, a consensus low point. "It's just been a really hard season for all of us, so to be able to bounce back and make the playoffs means a lot."

Defending MLL champion Philadelphia, meanwhile, became the first team to qualify for the playoffs following a title campaign. Coupled with Rochester's shocking loss to Eastern Conference also-ran New Jersey, snapping an eight-game winning streak, the Barrage and Rattlers are both 8-3 and tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with one week remaining.

Los Angeles is also 8-3 after having its seven-game winning streak snapped by Denver, which is 7-4.

Tiebreakers could come into play after the teams' respective regular season finales, as Philadelphia hosts the reeling Bayhawks - losers of five of six games - again Saturday, while Rochester hosts Boston.

In the Western Conference, Denver travels to San Francisco - a team which has had success against the Outlaws - and L.A. hosts Chicago, two opponents with a combined 6-16 record.