Di Miller, PLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: John Zumbado
The final game of Week Two in Atlanta, and Chaos LC took the field against Archers LC in the hopes they would get their first win on the year. The Archers led the league in Shot Pct at 47%; and Save Pct at 79%. While Chaos sat in third in the Shot Pct category with 31%. Jake Froccaro of Chaos was second in the league heading into today’s game in 2pt goals with two, while Archers have none in the top three. At the face-off dot, Stephen Kelly was 10-13 with a 43% FOW and 4GB, while his counterpart Kyle Gallagher had not taken a face-off in the only other game he played this season. In front of the cage, Blaze Riorden for Chaos had 33 saves, a 580% SV% with three 2ptGA; and on the other end of the field, Adam Ghitelman is sitting pretty with 17 saves, a .810% SV% and no 2ptGA and Drew Adams has one save, a .500% SV% and one 2ptGA. Even though Chaos would hold the lead for the first and most of the second quarter, they could not muster up any offense in the second half and would suffer their third loss on the season. Final Score: Archers LC 12—Chaos LC 8.
Ian MacKay (two 2ptG) would open up the scoring in transition 4:01 into the first from distance and rip a two-point bounce shot in front of the net past Drew Adams to put Chaos up 2-0. It only took Archers 46 seconds to get on the board. Grant Ament (2g, 4a) turned the corner and slipped it home off a slick dodge, switched hands left to right and with the back hand shot found the net at 4:47 cutting the cap 2-1. The teams would go scoreless for the next six minutes until MacKay scooped the GB, headed down the field, stepped down and sent the heat to the cage, it hit the right post and went in with 2:54 remaining to put Chaos up 4-1. So far this season, all goals scored against Adams have been two-point goals and the first quarter continued the pattern. Kelly was spectacular at the face-off “X” winning 4 of 5 against Gallagher. Score at the end of one: Chaos LC 4—Archers LC 1.
Chaos would start the scoring again in the second. Josh Byrne would draw the defense allowing Dhane Smith (2g) to get open and he would fire the step down shot past Adams 2:42 in giving them a four goal lead 5-1. Archers would get nabbed with a penalty and Chaos on the man-up found Jake Froccaro (1g) wide open on the outside and he was able to get off a shot low to high, hitting top corner at 3:11 increasing the lead once again 6-1. Archers would halt the run with a nice behind the back feed from Marcus Holman to Tom Schreiber (2g, 1a) and with the quick catch and release, he yanked it top corner off side on Riorden at 4:44 cutting the gap to four 6-2. This was the first Archer goal in almost 12 minutes and it started their four-goal run. Ament was left open, faked his defender, dropped his hands, used the defender as a screen and fired it in near side on Riorden at 5:29, now 6-3. On the next possession, there was a scrum towards the midfield line, Schreiber stuck with the GB and sent an underhand feed across the field to Will Manny (5g) who with one second on the shot clock would quick catch and release at 5:28 cutting the gap to two 6-4. With 2:54 remaining, Manny would get the feed from Ament and found a little opening on the inside and hit net 6-5. Chaos would halt the run with the second from Smith on the outside to bury it with 2:06 left on the clock 7-5 Chaos. But Archers would close out the half with two more. Manny, with the no angle shot snuck it past Riorden for a first half hat-trick with 1:23 remaining 7-6. On the ensuing face-off Kelly got the clean win, popped it forward and fired it bottom left hand corner only six seconds later at 1:17 to tie the game at sevens. Half-time stats: Chaos—17 shots; 8 SOG; 18 GB; 9 TO; 9 Saves; 56% Sv% Archers—27 shots; 16 SOG; 20 GB; 10 TO; 3 Saves; 71% Sv% Score at the end of two: Archers LC 7—Chaos LC 7
Adam Ghitelman would take over in net for Archers which was the norm for the team as they would have each net-minder play a half. The offense was quiet for almost four minutes. Then Ian MacKay would get nabbed with a non-releasable penalty and the Archers took advantage. Off the pass from Ament, Manny with a slick move on the catch and shoot far side found the net at 3:51 for the go ahead man-up goal 8-7 and their first lead of the game. With time still remaining on the man-up, Connor Fields (1g) on the two-on-one on the backside shot low to high and hit top farside for another man-up goal at 4:15 and a two goal lead 9-7. Archers were on a 8-1 run over the past 11:31 minutes. They had a chance to score a third, but time ran out on the penalty, but that didn’t stop the run. Schreiber dodged down the alley, changed the angle of the shot, pulled it across his body and with the quick twister shot hit net with 4:52 left in the third 10-7 Archers. With 2:13 on the clock, Ament got the ball to Marcus Holman (1g, 1a) and he made his way around the cage, went airborne and dunked it farside 11-7 and their biggest lead of the afternoon. Chaos finally halted the run with 1:38 left. Sergio Salcedo (1g) headed down the alley, brought his stick back to the inside for the shot 11-8. This was the first goal for Chaos since the clock showed 2:06 left in the first half. The third quarter was winding down but with almost a minute left, there was plenty of time for Archers to put another on the board and they did. Ryan Ambler ran downfield, found Manny open, he grabbed the ball and caught the defense sleeping and on the run fired one in with 56.5 seconds left and a four goal lead. Score at the end of three: Archers LC 12—Chaos LC 8.
Time was running out for Chaos. They had been outscored 5-1 in the third and needed to score. Unfortunately, both offenses were held at bay by the net-minders and no one was able to find the back of the net. Fans saw 12 minutes of scoreless lacrosse in the fourth. Final Score: Archers LC 12—Chaos LC 8.
TEAM STATS:
Chaos LC—31 Shots; 16 SOG; 37 GB; 18 TO; 7-22 FO; 32% FO%; 12 Saves; 64% Sv%
Archers LC—53 Shots; 33 SOG; 40 GB; 18 TO; 15-22 FO; 63% FO%; 10 Saves; .63 Sv%
SCORING LEADERS:
Grant Ament-Archers: 2g, 4a
Will Manny-Archers: 5g
Tom Schreiber-Archers: 2g, 1a
Ian MacKay-Chaos: Two 2ptG
NEXT UP:
The PLL has a bye-week next weekend but will return on June 25, in Baltimore, MD at Homewood Field.
On Friday June 25, Whipsnakes LC (2-0) will take on Atlas LC (1-1) game time 8:00 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on NBCSN and Peacock.
On Saturday June 26, Redwoods LC (2-1) will take on Chaos LC (0-3) game time 3:15 ET. The game can be seen on Peacock.
The second game on Saturday June 26, Waterdogs LC (2-1) will take on Archers LC (2-0) game time 8:00 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on NBCSN and Peacock.
On Sunday June 27, Cannons LC (1-2) will take on Atlas LC (1-1) game time 12:00 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on Peacock.
The final game of the weekend on Sunday June 26, Chrome LC (0-2) will take on Whipsnakes LC (2-0) game time 2:45 p.m. The game can be seen on Peacock.
Di Miller, PLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©