Thursday night was all about the Whipsnakes — mostly because the second game of the evening was paused just after it started.
The defending Premier Lacrosse League champions utterly dominated the Atlas. The 15-6 victory represented the most goals scored by a team this season.
Zed Williams and Mike Chanenchuk each contributed five points, though Jay Carlson led the charge with four goals — including this wild backhand bouncer that put the Whips ahead 9-3 midway through the third quarter.
Jay Carlson going deep in his bag for the backhand bouncer pic.twitter.com/MwRZUhW4W6
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) July 31, 2020
This game was actually tied at 3 after the first quarter, but the Whips — featuring something of a makeshift offense after leaving so many players unprotected in the expansion draft — ripped off nine consecutive goals to put the game out of reach.
The defense stepped up, too, keeping the Atlas off the board in the second half until 7:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. Kyle Bernlohr made 15 saves.
Although the final three quarters were all Whipsnakes, the Atlas had a few highlights to share. Paul Rabil scored on this incredible one-handed shot …
Who needs to use two hands? Not @PaulRabil.
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) July 30, 2020
pic.twitter.com/hTIUYH4w9a
… and Romar Dennis didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on this jumper.
Romar went for it without hesitation pic.twitter.com/0unD9NgSqv
— Atlas Lacrosse Club (@PLLAtlas) July 31, 2020
Now 1-2, the Atlas fall behind the Redwoods due to goal differential but remain ahead of the winless Waterdogs and Chaos.
POWER OUTAGE DELAYS ARCHERS-CHROME
An undefeated showdown between the Archers and Chrome was paused with 6:42 remaining in the first quarter due to a power outage. The league updated fans on social media, writing, “The surrounding area around the facility has lost power due to extreme heat. We’ve determined that’s it’s either an issue at the local substation or a melted underground fuse.”
The heat just took out the power at our whole facility.
— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) July 31, 2020
Please hold while we get things back up.
At the time of delay, the Archers led 1-0 on a goal by Christian Mazzone that was assisted by rookie phenom Grant Ament. Play was scheduled to resume at 11:20 p.m.
Update: Rocky Mountain Power has replaced the melted fuse and the power is back!
— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) July 31, 2020
Players are warming up and we’ll start back up at 11:20pm ET.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
But the game was well worth the wait.
The Archers needed overtime to thwart the Chrome 13-12. Each team went on a 6-1 run in the first three quarters, sending the game into the fourth quarter tied at 9. Late in the fourth quarter, Justin Guterding scored to give the Chrome the first lead of the night, but Tom Schreiber answered for the Archers and sent the game to an extra period.
GRANT AMENT TO RYAN AMBLER FOR THE WIN IN OVERTIME!@GrantAment | @ryan_ambler | @PLLArchers pic.twitter.com/ho37Cpi3ND
— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) July 31, 2020
With 11:05 left in overtime, Ament delivered a precision pass to Ryan Ambler in traffic. Ambler ripped and scored, giving the Archers the victory. Ament had one goal and five assists, tying Schreiber's single-game assists record. Stephen Kelly went 10-for-15 on faceoffs, and Brendan Fowler went 10-for-12.
PLL STANDINGS
Archers 3-0 (+4)
Whipsnakes 2-0 (+13)
Chrome 2-1 (+4)
Redwoods 1-2 (-4)
Atlas 1-2 (-9)
Waterdogs 0-2 (-3)
Chaos 0-2 (-5)
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE
All Times Eastern
7 p.m. — Whipsnakes vs. Chaos, NBCSN
9:30 p.m. — Waterdogs vs. Chrome, NBC Sports Gold