Di Miller, PLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: John Zumbado
In Game Two of a Double-Header on Saturday, Atlas LC (1-1) would stun the Redwoods LC (2-1) and give them their first loss of the 2021 season. Rob Pannell who led the league going into the contest in points with nine (5g, 4a) was who Atlas needed to control. TD Ierlan (36-55; .655%; 24GB) would go up against Trevor Baptiste (14-22; .636%) for only the second time in their careers and it would be a great match-up. Dox Aitken would make his professional lacrosse debut after winning his second NCAA DI title with UVA and he was excited to start his pro career. Jack Concannon who had a tough time the week before having lost to Archers 18-6 needed this win to gain back his confidence and he did with an impressive 17 saves in the contest. The Atlas club seemed to find a renewed sense of offense and once they got the lead, they never looked back. Final Score: Atlas LC 12—Redwoods LC 9.
Myles Jones (1g, 3a) would start the contest off on a one-on-one at 3:21 to put the Redwoods on the board with the downhill dodge and a nifty swim move, he barreled down and blew it past Concannon 1-0. It only took a couple of minutes before Atlas struck back. Eric Law (3g, 1a) fought his way to the cage, dodging his way and backed in towards the crease, tiptoed, turned and lept to dunk it in far side to tie it up 2-2 at 5:29. The defense on both sides was extremely strong for the next four minutes not allowing either offensive powerhouse to score. Finally, with 3:37 remaining the scoring drought ended as Bryan Costabile found himself wide open on the outside, and with the step down shot overhand release, fired it past Tim Troutner far side to notch the go ahead goal 2-1. With time running out, Rob Pannell (3g, 1a) took it top side came around the backside of the net and shot far side low with 5.8 seconds on the clock to tie it up. Score at the end of one: Atlas LC 2—Redwoods LC 2.
Atlas would get it started in the second when Craig Chick got the turnover, passed to Jake Richards who would take it straight up the middle, he rolled, spinned and scored on the man down at the 1:48 mark. Unfortunately the goal was waived off as Atlas had released early on the penalty. Jack Carraway (3g, one 2ptG), who was picked up in the draft from Georgetown was having a rough day so far with a couple of dropped passes, but after this goal things turned in his favor. Costabile flipped the pass to Carraway and he was able to force it down low, turned and with the low angle skip shot found a piece of the net far side at 4:15 to give Atlas the lead 3-2 and they never looked back. At 4:57, Carraway would score another, this time coming around from the back of the cage; he’d find the net with a no look crease dive shot putting Atlas up 4-2. Less than 30 seconds later at 5:23 Pannell would notch his second, as he’d get past his defender on the outside and from GLE would jump and dive through the crease hitting far side cutting the gap to one 4-3. For the last five minutes neither team could muster up any offense as once again, the defensive units were stellar with the net-minders making incredible saves. Halftime stats: Atlas—SOG 10; Saves 8; Face-offs 3-8; FO% .375 Redwoods—SOG 11; Saves 6; Face-offs 6-9; FO% .667. Score at the end of two: Atlas LC 4—Redwoods 3.
The third would start off with Atlas scoring 1:02 in. Cade Van Raaphorst with the turnover headed downfield and thought about two, but saw a wide open Mark Cockerton (2g, 1a) on the crease and with the step down shot, he sent a skip shot between the legs of Troutner for his first goal of his PLL debut and first goal of the season 3-5 Atlas. They would continue the run with another from E. Law at the 2:50 mark. Dan Bucaro made a nice pass from across the backside of the cage; Law snagged it and with the quick catch and finish, fired it between the legs of Troutner giving them a three goal lead 6-3. Baptiste had been called for a face-off violation on the previous draw, so Danny Logan took the face-off, grabbed the ground ball, headed down the field fired it to Carraway (hat-trick) and with a nice step down shot, he’d score 10 seconds later at the 3:00 mark putting them up 7-3. Redwoods would finally stop the run with a nice goal from Matt Kavanagh (1g) up the middle off the pass from Pannell; he’d rip an overhand shot past Concannon at the 5:48 mark 7-4 Atlas. With 5:35 left in the frame, Jones would feed the skip pass down low to Jules Heninburg (1g) at GLE and he’d fire it over the top getting them back to within two 7-5. They’d score once more on the turnover. Garrett Epple would get the TO off a telegraphed pass by Cockerton, headed down the field, made a nice toe drag right on the doorstep, did a great face dodge, then faked high and went low with 5:00 left to get them back to within one 7-6. But once again, the defense kicked in on both sides with no goals for two and half minutes. Until Carraway (hat-trick) would fire it from the two-point line off a pass from Costabile from the far side who drew the double-team to open it up with 2:30 left 9-6 Atlas. However, Redwoods wasn’t going away so quickly. Jones would fight off multiple defenders and feed to Pannell for the quick catch and shoot, and he fired it far side low for his hat-trick with 31 seconds left 9-7. Redwoods would get hit with a penalty at the end of the third, so Atlas would begin the fourth on a man-up. Score at the end of three: Atlas LC 9—Redwoods LC 7.
The Redwoods were able to win the opening draw on the man-down situation but didn’t capitalize. Atlas would open up the fourth at 2:28 with Danny Logan (1g, 1a) notching his first professional goal. It was a beauty too. He did a pump fake to freeze Epple, stepped down at the two-point arc line and fired it top corner. Troutner went high and the shot went low. If the rookie had been a couple inches back, he would have hit two 10-7 for Atlas. Law would notch his hat-trick at 3:41 in the frame. He got the feed from Carraway, and with the spin move the bouncer caught Troutner off guard it put Atlas up 11-7. Atlas almost went up by two, but they would have another goal called back. This time, Troutner had come out of the net for the clear, was tackled, Cockerton picked up the GB and fired it on the open net. But Atlas Head Coach Ben Rubeor called a time out just before the shot went in and it was waived off. The teams went scoreless for almost six minutes before Atlas would continue with their run. Cockerton would notch his hat-trick with 3:50 remaining and it was a strange one. Dox Aitken made a shot that hit the pipe, it popped up drawing Troutner out of the cage and Cockerton was right there on the doorstep to grab the garbage, shoot and score for and their final goal of the game 12-8 Atlas. Exactly one minute later with 2:50 on the clock, Troutner made a nice save, got it to Patrick Harbeson (1g) and he went coast-to-coast slipping through the defenders on the front door, went right to the rack and hit top corner 12-8 still in favor of Atlas. This was the Redwoods first goal in the fourth and new territory for them. With 1:38 remaining, Ryder Garnsey (1g) would get his first goal of the season when he got the skip pass from Jones and was left wide open, walked the tight rope on the crease and flipped it in far side 12-9. Pannell almost had another for Redwoods with 34.8 on the clock. He fired on Concannon and he made a beautiful save, got the rebound and made a nice clear. It ended up being the save of the game, locked in the win for Atlas, and gave Redwoods their first loss on the season. Final Score: Atlas LC 12—Redwoods LC 9.
TEAM STATS:
Redwoods: SOG 26; TO 14; CTO 8; GB 26; FO 13-24; FO% .540; Saves 14; SV% .560; PP 0-2
Atlas: SOG 26; TO 18; CTO 10; GB 41; FO 11-24; FO% .460; Saves 17; SV% .650; PP 0-2
POINTS LEADERS:
Jake Carraway-Atlas: 3g, one 2ptG
Eric Law-Atlas: 3g, 1a
Rob Pannell-Redwoods: 3g, 1a
Myles Jones-Redwoods 1g, 3a
The PLL will return the weekend of June 25, 2021 when they head to Homewood Field, in Baltimore, MD.
Di Miller, PLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©