HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Connor Farrell gave new dad Jordan MacIntosh a milk rattle for a gift following the birth of his daughter Vivian.
And on Friday night at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium, “the milk man” delivered in a big way down the stretch to lead Chrome LC to a 17-14 win over Waterdogs LC.
Farrell, the Long Island native who played in front of a host of friends and family, won seven big faceoffs in the fourth quarter, including one he won clean and took to the cage with 6:40 left in regulation.
The goal came six seconds after Ryan Brown gave the Waterdogs their largest lead of the game at 14-11.
“I was actually aiming top left, and it went bottom left,” said Farrell, who also won 18 of 30 faceoffs and scooped up 14 ground balls. “So, I guess if I don’t know where the ball is going, the goalie doesn’t know where the ball is going.”
The rally Farrell helped ignite was set ablaze by Justin Anderson, who scored five goals, including back-to-back tallies in a 33-second span to tie the score at 14. And then rookie Brendan Nichtern, a native of nearby Massapequa, curled from behind the cage to score what proved to be the winner, his fourth goal of the evening.
The ninth overall selection in the PLL Draft added two assists in his first game back at Shuart Stadium since helping lead Massapequa to a Nassau County title.
“He’s really talented, he sees the game, his IQ’s great, he’s great in the huddles,” Chrome coach Tim Soudan said of Nichtern. “But what we saw tonight and what we saw flashes of in the games before is that when it’s time to take the game over, he’s able to do it.”
Logan Wisnauskas helped put the game on ice, first setting up Mike Manley for a pole goal and scoring his fourth goal of the game 35 seconds later, as the Chrome closed out the game on a 6-0 run.
The Chrome, which went 2-7 a year ago, are now 3-0 for the first time in franchise history.
“We obviously have a lot of new faces on the roster this year, and it’s been so impressive to see how quickly guys have gotten up to speed of the pro game and are doing what we expected them to do when we brought them here,” Jordan MacIntosh said. “Seeing Connor Farrell elevate his game, seeing Justin Anderson and his development from his first year to his second to be that true offensive threat every time he’s on the field, and then what our young guys are doing down on attack with Nich and Wiz, I think we have a lot of game breakers, a lot of guys in college were the go-to guy who are starting to get their feet under them and starting to get their feet under them.”