The Woods are absolutely rolling.

Redwoods won their third straight game this weekend in New York, upsetting the league’s No. 1-seeded Chaos 12-7 to earn a trip to the first ever Premier Lacrosse League title game and a date with the well-rested Whipsnakes in Philadelphia.

“We’re hot right now,” Ryder Garnsey said on the field after the game. “If we play our game, we’ll be alright.”

Redwoods got up 5-1 early but seemed to give Chaos new life when Garrett Epple hit Connor Fields with a questionable high hit that sent the Redwoods defender to the box. A strong second quarter helped Chaos tie the game at six entering the break.

Then the defense all but shut down the Chaos attack, allowing only one goal in the final 24 minutes. Redwoods won the third quarter 4-0 and cruised in for the victory.

“The last three games in a row have been do-or-die for us,” Redwoods midfielder Sergio Perkovic said. “It really brings our intensity to the next level and everybody in the locker room wants another weekend to play together.”

Seven Redwoods had two points a piece in a balanced effort: Matt Kavanagh, Jules Heningburg, Garnsey, Joe Walters, Brent Adams, Perkovic and John Sexton. Defensively, Matt Landis held Fields, an MVP candidate, pointless.

 “What Matt Landis did against Connor Fields, who’s arguably the best player in this league, we just named the island after him,” Redwoods coach Nat St. Laurent said on NBC Sports. “It’s Landis Island. I’m so proud of him.”

Redwoods now get a chance at redemption after falling 17-4 in its last meeting against the Whips in the penultimate regular season weekend.

Archers shooting for No. 1

Archers has a chance to pick first overall for a second straight season after prevailing in its first game in the draft bracket with a 12-10 victory against Chrome.

Archers outscored Chrome 3-1 in the final nine minutes of the game, with Davey Emala scoring the eventual game-winner on his first PLL goal with 8:24 remaining. Will Manny scored four times and Danny Eipp and Ryan Ambler added three points each as the team played its first full game without now-injured Tom Schreiber.

Welcome back Agent Zero @DaveyEmala_0 pic.twitter.com/txp00Nf9PD

— Archers Lacrosse Club (@PLLArchers) September 15, 2019

With a win next week, the squad has a chance to add two serious talents next season once last year’s first-overall pick, Pat Spencer, concludes his basketball career. They’ll need to beat Atlas to once again have the first stab at the recent graduates.

That wasn’t the only motivation the Archers’ players had in New York.

“I think for us, we just wanted another game together and show that no matter the situation we’re going to play hard and we’re going to play to win,” Archers faceoff specialist Stephen Kelly told PLL’s Lisa Redmond after the game. “If that can elevate our team for years to come, awesome.”

Postmortem

This weekend’s results brought the end to two teams’ seasons, squads on opposite ends of the standings during the regular season.

There will certainly be some soul searching for Chaos after the team dropped three straight to end the year following a very strong showing in the regular season. The usually high scoring team was held under 10 goals for a third straight week after seeing their goal total decrease in the three weeks leading up to the second-round matchup.

Chrome showed an ability to go on big offensive runs but faces tough questions in the offseason after finishing last in the regular season and failing to secure the No. 1 pick in the draft. The defense will likely be tinkered with and Chrome must decide if it’s content with how the pieces fit on the offensive end, particularly whether Justin Guterding and Jordan Wolf can co-exist.

Thankfully for the Chrome, the depth of the upcoming draft means it will likely still get a strong contributor in the first round.

Play of the Week
Sergio Perkovic, M, Redwoods

BIG BODY CREASE DIVE FROM @SergPerkovic!!! pic.twitter.com/Qo7IXo76yn

— Redwoods Lacrosse Club (@PLLRedwoods) September 14, 2019

The best goal of the weekend was the first, a tremendous crease dive and backhand shot pulled off by Sergio Perkovic to get Redwoods started.​

Noteworthy

NBC said it sold three times as many PLL season passes on NBC Sports Gold as originally anticipated in an article in Front Office Sports about the league’s television present and future. … Stephen Kelly won an impressive 83 percent of his faceoffs for Archers. … Alex Ready started the first quarter in net for Chrome due to a one-quarter suspension given to Brett Queener by the team’s head coach, Dom Starsia. Queener had already sat out a week due to a league suspension following a hit on Jules Heningburg. … There were a handful of injury absences, including Archers’ Tom Schreiber and Jackson Place. Chrome played without Mike Manley, John Moderski and Jordan MacIntosh. … Atlas’ Connor Buczek may not have played this week, but he’s still atop the playoff points leader board with nine. Will Manny and Justin Guterding each have six.