On a rainy night in Utah, the Archers LC handed Atlas LC their first loss of the season 11-10. With the first game of the PLL’s night postponed due to rain, Archers and Atlas was the main event. It was the first game of the season for the Archers, who retained most of their roster from 2019. Atlas won over the Waterdogs on Sunday afternoon, so they now fall to 1-1.
The Archers got on the board first and it was superstar Tom Schreiber who collected the goal. Atlas then capitalized on an Archers’ mistake, catching Adam Ghitelman out of his cage. Romar Dennis got the ball just inside the arc and let it rip. Rookie Bryan Costabile then scored twice for Atlas; the first was a 2-pointer while the second was the stuff of highlight reels as he dodged a defender and took flight, putting in a backhand while flying through the crease. Schreiber wasn’t going to take that lying down, so he made a great pass to Josh Currier who scored his first PLL goal to cut the Archers’ deficit to 4-2.
The second quarter was the Grant Ament show. The first-overall pick out of Penn State had a hat trick as the Archers took an 8-6 lead. Atlas defenders just let Ament walk right out in front of the net all three times.
“[Ament’s] got a little something to prove but he’s a good player and we want to let him do his thing a little bit, get his legs under him,” Archers’ head coach Chris Bates told Todd Harris at halftime.
Christian Mazzone had the highlight of the second quarter, picking up a rebound and putting a one-handed bounce shot past Concannon.
The third opened with great saves at each end. Concannon continued his strong play while Drew Adams got his feet wet after taking over from Ghitelman. And if the second quarter belonged to the first overall pick, the third quarter belonged to the second overall pick, Bryan Costabile. Already with two goals on the night, Costabile scored two more, each time tying the game for Atlas, though the third ended with the Archers up 10-9.
Josh Currier scored the game winning goal for the Archers with 6:39 remaining in the fourth. Ryan Ambler found Currier with the pass and Currier put in a John Grant Jr.-like no look, over the shoulder shot. Rob Pannell popped a late one for Atlas to end the game.
It was a great debut for Ament, whose three goals, one assist and seven shots led the Archers.
“I was just trying to take it all in and soak up the moment. Luckily I’ve got some seasoned vets that I can lean on like Marcus, Will, Tom, all the way down to our defense,” Ament told Todd Harris after the game, while getting a water bottle shower from Scott Ratliff. “I thought our goalies played well and continued to give us confidence. I was a little shaky in the first quarter but once I started to find my rhythm the ball started to go into the back of the net and luckily I had some guys around me doing the exact same.”
Schreiber, Currier and Christian Mazzone each had a pair of goals for the Archers. Marcus Holman and Will Manny also scored.
The Archers are back in action Tuesday night at 7 p.m. facing the Waterdogs, while Atlas gets two days off and are back in action Thursday at 7 p.m. vs the Whipsnakes.
