FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — There’s nothing quite like the Carolina Chaos in the Premier Lacrosse League playoffs.
Blaze Riorden and the sixth-seeded Chaos defense spoiled what amounted to a Boston Cannons home game in Saturday’s quarterfinals, upsetting the second-seeded Cannons 8-4.
After a close first half that resulted in the Chaos heading into the locker room up 4-3, Carolina’s textbook playoff defense locked in. Andy Towers’ team allowed just one Cannons goal in the second half and pitched a shutout in the third quarter.
Riorden, a finalized yet again for the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year honor, made 15 saves (78.9 percent). Troy Reh picked up a game-high nine ground balls and added two caused turnovers to lead the defensive effort.
“I’ve said it for three or four years now that I think Troy Reh is the most underappreciated, underrated player in this league,” Towers said. “He just simply doesn’t get enough credit; the guy is a warrior. All he cares about is winning.”
Jules Heningburg opened the scoring, followed quickly by Josh Byrne to give the Chaos a 2-0 lead halfway through the first period. Pat Kavanaugh scored the Cannons’ lone first-quarter goal to make it 2-1 to start the second frame.
Connor Kirst tied the score for the Cannons at two apiece, but that was short lived, as Tye Kurtz gave the Chaos the lead back just 16 seconds later thanks to an assist from Brian Minicus.
Alexander Vardaro fired home a laser to tie it back up at 3 with 7:21 to play in the second, but the Cannons failed to get back on the scoreboard until nearly the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
The Chaos’ game-changing 5-0 was made possible by the defensive effort and goals from Ross Scott, Kurtz, Byrne and Kyle Jackson — both EMO tallies.
The Cannons’ scoring drought that lasted north of 25 minutes came to an end off a dodge and score from Asher Nolting. Cannons leading goal scorer Marcus Holman was held scoreless.
Jules Heningburg credited the Chaos defense while admitted that he and the offense need to be better moving forward.
“Putting up 8 goals, it’s not enough from us, we need to be better,” he said. “If we don’t have the best player in the world between the pipes and an insanely insanely strong defense, we’re probably coming out on the other side of this.”
The Chaos take on the fourth-seeded Archers, who earned a bye as the West Conference champion, next Saturday on Long Island. The teams split the season series 1-1, with the Archers taking home the first matchup 9-7 and the Chaos coming out on top 15-14 in the rematch.
The rubber match is set for 7:30 p.m. with a trip to the championship game on the line.
“For me, personally, this feeling of winning is great, but I’m just really excited to get to do it all over again next weekend and be around this group of guys,” Riorden said. “Every chance we get to spend together and be inside that locker room and lock arms and get the opportunity to compete is one that we’re not going to take for granted.”
