Week three in Premier Lacrosse League action saw Paul Rabil’s Atlas pick up their first win of the season while the Whipsnakes handed the Archers their first loss. Two more overtime games delighted over 11,000 fans in Chicago. Next week the PLL hits Baltimore. Pick up your tickets here: https://www.premierlacrosseleague.com/baltimore.
WHIPSNAKES 11 ARCHERS 10 OT
The Whipsnakes came out on top with an 11-10 win over the Archers in another closely contested PLL game in Chicago. This game matched up two previously unbeaten teams. Once again, more time was needed to decide a winner.
The Whipsnakes ended the first quarter up 4-0 and seemed ready to strike quickly in the second. However, the Archers had something to say about that and instead, the Archers took control of the second quarter and outscored the Whipsnakes by six.
The third quarter saw both teams score one each. Quarter four was filled with drama as the Whipsnakes outscored the Archers to force overtime. Ryan Drenner tied the game at 9, then 10, but the craziest PLL overtime was about to happen. Drew Snider quickly intercepted the pass and found Drenner, who called game when he found the back of the net after Adam Ghitelman came out to break up the play.
Every attacker for the Archers contributed to the offense. Marcus Holman had two goals, Will Manny had one goal and one assist. Kevin Rice contributed one goal and Ryan Ambler added an assist. The real star of the offense was no surprise – Tom Schreiber, whose eight points consisted of three goals and five assists.
While he is dangerous with the ball, he is equally dangerous when he doesn’t have the ball because he is still that much of a threat. As people slide around to double and triple team him, Schreiber smartly passes the ball to the open player or players who fire it beyond the goalie’s reach. Unfortunately, the rest of the midfield struggled with scoring goals. Ben McIntosh scored two while Ian MacKay scored one. The rest of the midfield did not add any goals or assists, and that may have been what prevented the Archers from staying undefeated.
The Whipsnakes appeared to find a balance between the attack and the midfield scoring goals. Ben Reeves was the only offensive player to not score. The rest of the attack combined for four point goals, four assists, and one 2-point goal.
Adding to the offense was a decent amount of the midfield players. Mike Chanenchuk’s single-point goal was not a surprise, while his laser like 2-point goal seemed to stun the Archers.
Bryce Young had a solid game for the defense by scooping up eight ground balls and goalie Kyle Bernlohr’s 20 saves were enough to keep his team undefeated.
CHAOS 12 REDWOODS 11 OT
Team Chaos chopped down the Redwoods LC 12-11 in yet another overtime win for the league this season.
The highest scoring quarter was the first quarter that saw four goals for the Redwoods and three for Chaos including Sergio Salcido’s 2-point goal to start the game. The second quarter saw Chaos score four goals to one scored by the Redwoods. The third and fourth quarters saw Chaos with two goals each quarter while the Redwoods scored three goals each quarter. An 11-11 tie sent the game to overtime where Chaos prevailed.
For team Chaos, every single attacker scored. Connor Fields led the way with four goals and one assist. Miles Thompson added three goals and one assist. Josh Byrne added two goals and one assist while Eric Scott added one goal and one assist. Also adding to the Chaos attack was a goal by Deemer Class and one by Jake Froccaro.
The Redwoods saw some help from their attack; however, it was their midfield that continued to dominate. Salcido had the only 2-point goal of the game and added another goal as well. Brent Adams added a hat trick. Joe Walters and Patrick Harbeson added goals as well.
The big difference in this game appeared to come down to goaltending. Tim Troutner’s 26.6% save percentage pales in comparison to Blaze Riorden’s 61.9% save percentage and Charlie Cipriano’s 60% save percentage.
Riorden’s save percentage wasn’t the only thing catching people’s eye during the game. When Mark Glicini took Sergio Perkovic to the ground, Riorden took offense. He immediately came out of the net and dropped Nick Ossello, who then punched Riorden, which is what the gifs on Twitter caught. Eventually the scuffle was broken up, penalties were handed out, and play resumed, but it had a lot of people talking this week.
GASSIN BEERS AND CHUCKIN KNUCKS. THATS WHAT @nickossello DOES pic.twitter.com/Qp5YjwurYB
— The Crease Dive (@thecreasedive) June 15, 2019
The hard hitting, overtime and fighting kept fans engaged from start to finish in this one.
ATLAS 13 CHROME 12
Chrome went up 5-4 by the end of the first quarter. Atlas seemed to be inspired by their end of the first quarter chat because they scored four during the second quarter while their counterparts couldn’t find any way to get the ball beyond the opposing goalie.
Chrome came back from the half and they were ready to play, outscoring their Atlas counterparts 5-1. It seemed like this game was headed to overtime. However, Atlas put the game away with a 4-2 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Chrome’s Justin Guterding led the attack with a hat trick and a pair of assists. He was helped by his midfield counterparts when both Romar Dennis and Matt Danowski had 2-point goals. They also ran a team of five defensive guys for the game and all five guys contributed. John Galloway had 12 saves while giving up 12 goals.
For Atlas, Connor Buczek had a team leading four goals and one assist. Kieran McArdle and Chris Cloutier had two goals and one assist each. However, it was the solid play of Tucker Durkin with five ground balls and two caused turnovers that really seemed to solidify the defense this week.
Jack Concannon continued to be successful in goal. He had 14 saves and allowed 10 goals.
